1 is always fun!

The power of one was witnessed yet again in the recently concluded first One-Day International match played at the Sawai Mann Singh Stadium in Jaipur (Rajasthan), India this Sunday! The match was going either way since the very start, but it will turn out to be such nerve-wreaking was never thought of!

Review:
Toss was always going to be important, as far as you are playing in Indian subcontinent. (In Test match, fourth inning is always difficult to play here (pitch almost breaks on 4th day) and in day-night ODIs, dew is always a factor to watch out for.) Having already lost 7 of the 8 tosses in the matches played so far in 2010, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s bad luck continued. And as expected, South Africa chose to bowl first on winning the toss, because of the dew factor coming into play, later in the evening.

India Innings: South Africa got a perfect start, with Sachin Tendulkar (4) back in the hut in the very second over to a very unnecessary run-out. The player getting out in such a fashion even after playing more than 440-ODIs is certainly unimaginable. Whose call was it anyway? Now, India needed to steady down, and that’s what India’s stand-in wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik did with Virender Sehwag. However their partnership was broken down with Sehwag (46) getting run-out, little unfortunate there not to get to a well-deserved 50. Soon, Karthik (44) got out, and Dhoni (26) followed him to a very soft dismissal at extra cover, scoreboard reading 138/4. India, already had lost their three and only experienced batsmen, so needed some partnerships at this stage in order to post a defendable target, and now the onus lied on India’s young talent Kohli, Raina, Pathan and Jadeja. And they did not disappoint anyone, and Kohli and Raina partnered 66 runs together, before Kohli (31) got out on the bowling of Albie Morkel. With the hard-hitter of the ball Yusuf Pathan in the middle, India opted for the 5-over Batting Powerplay in the over No. 39, but the strategy did not worked as planned with Pathan (18) trying to replicate a Six he hit on the second ball of Over 39, got out to another soft dismissal at cover off the bowling of Wayne Parnell. However, Raina and Jadeja plundered 48 runs in the powerplay, but soon after that Raina (58) looking good so far, got out caught behind the wicket off Kallis, giving him his 250th wicket in ODIs. Jadeja (22) fell identically to Kallis soon. With Praveen Kumar (13) getting run-out in the 50th Over, India’s chance of getting passed the psychological 300-runs mark, got almost finished. Jacques Kallis (7-0-29-3) was the pick of the bowler, while Suresh Raina (58) topped for the host. South Africa was thus given a target of 299 runs in the end.

The most entertaining moments in this inning were Ashish Nehra hitting Charl Langeveldt out of the ground for a six (his third in the ODIs), Nehra surviving the certain run out (no one appealed for, except for the fielder Johan Botha’s weak appeal), and Wayne Parnell missing bowling Nehra out (no bails on the stumps fell, even).

South Africa Innings: With required rate almost 6-runs per over, South Africa got to a flyer, plundering the Indian fast bowlers at might. South Africa reached 50 in 7.3 over, but soon the new opener Loots Bosman (29), coming in place of Graeme Smith, was cleaned up by Praveen Kumar. Gibbs (27) followed him soon, trying to hit Jadeja out of the ground, but failing to clear Kohli. Later when the partnership between Kallis and AB de Villiers look threatening, Jadeja provided yet another break-through, eliminating de Villiers (25) bowling him out. With Alviro Petersen (9) forgetting the cricket basics (not grounding his bat on time for surviving a run-out), South Africa were reduced to 134-4 in 25.5 overs. All the wickets fell in this inning so far, showed how much it is important to stick to the basics. South Africa were in deep trouble with Albie Morkel (2) felling lbw to Nehra, and Boucher (5) giving the practice catch to his Indian counterpart off the bowling of Sreesanth (180-7). All the hopes of resurgence dashed with Sreesanth disturbing the furniture of Kallis (89). With No. 9 and No. 10 in the middle, and South Africa needing 74 in 7 overs, a certain defeat was on the cards. But, Parnell and Steyn had some other idea, and were helped by the un-imaginative bowling and captaincy from Indians. The duo collected 34 runs in 4 overs, including a 14-run off Suresh Raina over. Needing 40 from last 3 overs, Steyn and Parnell first clobbered Sreesanth for 14-runs (48th over), and then Nehra for 16-runs (49th over). Seeing Sreesanth hit all over the park, Dhoni turned to his medium pacer Praveen Kumar, and he did not disappointed his captain and managed to get rid of Steyn (35) on the 2nd ball in the 50th over. The drama continued, with Sachin Tendulkar superbly saving a certain boundary from No. 11 Langeveldt (4). With Parnell (49) on strike, needing 3 off the last ball, it looked like he will manage to pull off a memorable victory for South Africa, but he could manage only 1, thus handing Indians a single-run victory. Clearly, Ravindra Jadeja (10-2-29-2) was the pick of bowler, while Kallis top-scored with 89. Sreesanth having affected the four South Africans wickets to fell was punished severely by South African batsmen and returned with the figures 9-1-74-2.

Comparisons: In the end, India somehow mange to sneak with a victory from a certain defeat, and the chokers tag remained with the South Africans only. On the bowling front, both the teams were at par, with respect to their bowling (although Kallis felt his bowlers did a commendable job), failing to polish off the lower half early. On the batting front, no one could convert their start into big innings except for Jacques Kallis. But the South Africans clearly outsmart their Indian counterparts, the services of Yuvraj Singh clearly seen missing here.

Samey’s patriotic but cricketing view: I think the attacking captaincy, for which Dhoni is known, was missing completely. Even when Sreesanth was not able to bowl at right line to tail-enders (that was clearly evident from his bowling), and Parnell using his pace for third-man boundaries, the decision to give him 48th over was not the correct one. With 3-overs left with Praveen Kumar, he persisted with Sreesanth and Raina. The only positive thing about his captaincy was he was continuously changing his fielding, and that can disturb any good player for sure.

But all is well that ends well, and INDIA EMERGING VICTORIOUS, is what any Indians might have asked for. Hope, India doesn’t accounts for more heart-attacks, and wins comfortably the next matches.

ALL THE BEST for both the teams, and let CRICKET WIN.

Review: 3 Idiots

All Izz Well!

Just a year or two before came the Salman Khan-starrer movie Hello. Although, the movie was based on the Chetan Bhagat‘s novel One Night @ The Call-center, but in my opinion the complete script was adapted from it, with no other original ideas put in its making. While watching I was compelled to compare it with the book. The result - the movie was just average and bombed at the box office. So was little disappointed and wondering whether all his books (except the latest one Two States) that can be a subject of any good movie for the audience, will suffer the same, if transformed to the silver-screen?

So, when I heard Aamir Khan, Raju Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra had team up for a new movie based on Five Point Someone by the same author, my expectation increased, but I also feared whether they will be able to do justice with the theme of the book and will they be able to convey what the author wanted to? Will all the hype, marketing strategies created later for the much-awaited movie of the year 2009, go waste? The expectations were very high with the trio, especially with Aamir who is known for his perfectionism and as only one movie makes it to the cinema-hall in a year. I kept my fingers crossed and went for the first-day-first-show (first time I did this).

The movie starts with the narrator Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) forcing the AIR INDIA plane to land back in Delhi, as he had got a fresh clue to refresh their search of long-last friend Rancho (Aamir Khan), along with the other (already-married) friend Raju (Sharman Joshi). The clue lies in the beautiful valleys of Shimla (very well captured by the cinematographer) and they almost immediately start for Shimla, in whatever clothes they were wearing. On their way, one of the mugger-friend Chatur (Omi) who got the clue reminds them of the bet; he had made in the influence of alcohol, with Rancho as who will be more successful at the end of 10 years. But, the friends were more eager to meet Rancho than this bet.

The movie then gets into the flashback about their college days. The opening ragging scene is just amazing, followed by the many tussles (some educative, some funny, some make you think) Rancho and his friends had with the professors and Director of the college Viru Shastrabuddhe (Boman Irani) popularly known as VIRUS. While all the collegians get busy with the studies, but because of Rancho’s out-of-world and challenging ideas, his other two friends lags in studies, and thus earned themselves the degree of 3 IDIOTS. Meanwhile, Rancho bumps into Director’s daughter Pia (Kareena Kapoor) at her sister’s (Mona Singh) wedding, and successfully breaks Pia’s engagement with her fiance (many names given such as price-tag, Gadha., etc, I chose fiance).

While Farhan always believes in Rancho, Raju had a difference of opinion, and hence moves out of their friendship. But, when crisis falls on Raju’s family, Rancho and Farhan helps him to come out of it. In the process, they also try to explain him that mugging is not a good habit, and it almost ends the thinking process of the humans. They are united again. But, that doesn’t stem the failing grades of Farhan and Raju. To this, we are revealed that Farhan did not want to do engineering and his passion lies somewhere else, while Raju had developed fear with the studies. Rancho helps his friends in overcoming their fears and problems in more dramatic way. In the time, Pia and Rancho both start liking each other, and he almost proposes her for the marriage. But, on the completion of graduation Rancho suddenly vanishes, leaving his friends and Pia clueless about his where-about.

The essence of the movie lies in when you think all three friends will meet at Shimla and story ends, there is another story that needs to be unfolded. In Shimla, they had to face with the reality of Rancho’s life and their respect for him increases more thereafter. And after some bizarre turn-of-events, they are finally united again.

The movie is quite different from the book, as the book revolved around the IIT campus only, and left us wanting to know what happened next in their lives, this story moves ahead of it. Although I missed the Ryan’s mice theory, C2D theory, etc. very much, but the lead line All Izz Well comes to rescue. But, in the end, it do justifies the theme of the book and is able to convey what the author wanted to.

The cast for “3 Idiots” includes Aamir, Sharman and Madhavan from the film “Rang de Basanti”, Raju Hirani’s favorite Boman Irani, sizzling Kareena Kapoor (for chemistry with Aamir), Mona Singh (for the bonding scene of Director and three friends), new actor Omi as a mugger friend, Madhavan’s parents, Sharman’s sixtieth century black-and-white family, Javed Jafri, and canteen boy Millimeter (original name not known).

Aamir is at his preachy best, as he had picked up from where he had left in TAARE ZAMEEN PARR, making the parents to re-think about the decision they force on their children, albeit this time it’s not completely about the kids only, and led them to suicide. It seems he is naturally serious about the problem. On acting side, he looks almost amazing as a 20-something year old, his eyes and body language conveying the most effect, but one scene with Boman when he drags him and he appear to be clueless as any college kid is simply awesome. One thing is sure about Aamir that he outnumbers everyone every time in the marketing strategies (the latest one disguising him) too.

Kareena, for a change looked good, otherwise it was a waste to put glasses on one of the most glamorous actor’s face. Although the glasses give you a feeling of her to be more studious and she was under the strict guidance of her already-strict professor-father. The kissing scene (always a condition for Aamir’s romantic movie) looks bizarre and out-of-context.

Boman leaves the mark in most of the scene, but sometimes he seems to be shouting only. But, his opening speech to the fresher is one of the best parts of the film. Caution: Don’t compare him with his previous role of a hospital dean in Munnabhai M.B.B.S.

Madhavan was at his best and justified with the laid-back character of HARI in the book (the scene where he tries to convince his father to follow his passion is almost choking), while Sharman had done a good job and was way ahead of depicting the character of Alok. The new actor Omi makes his presence felt with the South-Indian tone (and one hilarious speech in Hindi, which will surely tickle the funny bone).

The supporting cast all leave a mark in their precise role. The special mention for Sharman’s parent, the sleek old man, without a dialogue in the film makes you laugh, instead of feeling sympathy to the bed-ridden-paralyzed post-man and his troubled mom. Mona Singh don’t have much to offer in the role of Kareena’s elder sister, Javed Jaferi was never needed in the film, as you expect some comedy from him. The canteen-boy Millimeter makes his presence felt.

Lyrics of the songs, aren’t that catchy initially, but make sense when seen with the video, and then soon catch with you. The music and lyrics completely fits with the narration. All Izz Well tops the entire one. Zoobi-doobi is a good romantic number. Behti Hawa Sa best describes the carefree nature of Rancho. Jaane Nahin Denge Tujhe will surely bring tears in your eyes. But, all this songs takes some time to register in mind, except for the “All Izz Well”.

The writer’s efforts were clearly seen. Scenes like ragging, Chatur's hilarious HINDI speech, Raju's family in black-and-white, Pia and Rancho's sudden initial meetings and many more are very well written that makes you laugh. There are scenes that make you cry as well, especially the scenes like Raju's suicide attempt and his recovery.

Raju Hirani had yet again given a fresh punch line to the society – ALL IZZ WELL, after Jaadu ki Zappi in Munnabhai MBBS, and Gandhigiri in Lage Raho Munnabhai. The selection of some of the characters name such as Ranchoddas Shyamlal Chachad, Phunshuk Wange, Virus, Millimeter, Price-tag, Silencer were too good, and there he showed his creativity (of course, he might have got help from Aamir and others). He was able to live up to with the expectations.

I wanted to go for this movie, with my two other original IDIOT friends, but could not make it. I regret not going with them (IDIOTS, get ready I am coming soon), as the film can be best viewed with friends, and should be avoided with the family and in my opinion not even couples will enjoy it thoroughly. The target audiences are between 5 and 35 years.

For the movie Jahapanah Tussi Great Ho, Taufo Kubul Kare!

My Rating: 4/5

Samey.