IPL 2023: You Never Know With KKR!

First, of course, let’s talk about the cricket star born last night in the match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the 56^th match of IPL-2023. His name is Yashasvi Jaiswal who raced to the quickest ever fifty in IPL history taking just 13 balls and then going on to remain unbeaten at 98 off 47 balls to help his team RR win in style. Aged only 22, the southpaw opening batsman Jaiswal has humble origins—from a poor family in Uttar Pradesh—coming to Mumbai to train in cricket at the age of just ten and then struggling there for years, with no place of stay and doing gigs in dairies and paani puri shops. To make this cricketing dream come true he then started living in a tent with the cricket grounds men till he was noticed by a Mumbai training academy for his talent. He has several feats in first class cricket as the youngest player ever, playing for Mumbai in domestic cricket and he started his IPL stint from the year 2019. Yashasvi has mostly been consistent as an attacking opener in IPL and in the current version of IPL-2023 he’s scored more than 500 runs so far with a century to his credit. Now, who bowled to this marauding opener in the opening over?

 

There seemed to be no earthly reasons at all as to why KRR captain Nitish Rana should open the bowling: because he’s not been even regular part-time bowler; he had in his command three specialized spinners including the stalwarts of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, of course, the latter being totally ineffective in this IPL, but definitely more resourceful than Rana; and KKR was defending a very modest total of 149 which again thanks mainly to his consistent failures as a batsman and also as a captain. But he still bowled. And there flowed from the bat of Yashasvi Jaiswal two sixes, three fours and a couple to make it 26 runs in all in that opening over only. The captain lost his team the match right then and there. And also the prospect of making it to the Playoffs, because with only two more matches to go KKR can get to a maximum of 14 points only if they win both and it’s not going to be enough with the huge negative net run-rate, achieved largely through that match that RR won with nearly 7 overs to spare . So, they could very well be joining Delhi Capitals in being virtually out of the tournament at this moment. If there happens to be deadlock at 14 points each any of the franchises like RR, MI, RCB, LSG and even SRH can make it through to the Playoffs on the basis of net run-rates. For all practical purposes GT and CSK are through with 16 and 15 points respectively.

 

Apparently Nitish Rana had no regrets or that he never cared to show any. He was reported to say later that if a gamble worked nobody would say anything. However, the question remains as to what kind of a gamble that was! To make things infuriating and unbearable he became the most hyperactive skipper ever seen on the field: he was talking insistently continuously to his bowlers and instructing them of what that could never be ascertained, even in the last two overs when RR needed less than ten runs to win with more than eight overs to spare plus nine wickets standing. However, Rana has not been a bad player at all over the years and was performing very well in the IPL when, of course, he was not the captain. Who had made the decision to appoint him to that post and why, also could never be ascertained!

 

That decision is probably only a part of all the mischief that’s been going with KKR franchise management in this version of the IPL: the selection of the playing eleven uneven and haphazard in most of the matches; not utilizing the services of the immensely talented Litton Das and Jason Roy from the initial stages; overdependence on the deadweight veterans like Russell, Gurbaz, Narine and Jagadeesan  irrespective of their performances; playing Rinku Singh much lower down the order even after his feat of the five sixes; the enigma of Shardul Thakur and many more. In fact, there’s an uncanny resemblance between KKR’s tactics and that of the Indian selectors for Team India, like not giving enough opportunities to the youngsters or not selecting them at the right time, persisting with the ageing veterans in all three formats of the game and so on. These are lessons that should never be inculcated by any team or franchise at any level of cricket under any circumstances.  

 

Is King Khan listening?

Dilip Kumar: The Legendary Hero Of The Classical Era Passes Away!

Another golden chapter of Hindi cinema has drawn to a close. Dilip Kumar, the legendary hero of the classical era traversing over six glorious decades of providing top-class entertainment to millions of fans the world over, has passed away at a Mumbai hospital today morning. He was admitted in the ICU on 30^th June due to a prolonged illness, and in fact, for the last more than a month he had been in and out of hospital with constant prayers from his loving wife Saira Banu, one of the most popular heroines of the classical era, family, friends and millions of fans for his recovery. However, finally the doyen of Hindi cinema bowed down to destiny and the will of God, calling it a day at the ripe age of 98, two years short of what could have been the most memorable occasions of Indian film industry. 

Dilip Kumar has always been a tremendous fighter, both in his films and in his great variety of roles as well as in personal life fighting serious health issues for several years. In 2013 he was admitted in a Mumbai hospital after a mild heart attack and was kept under observation for the next three days due to the ensuing Ganesha Festival with the final immersion coming up on 18^thSeptember. He was reportedly put under ventilation on the evening of 17^thSeptember as rumors of his passing away became almost viral. Finally, the heartthrob of millions won their hearts coming back home victorious. Dilip Kumar celebrated his 90^th birthday in December 2012, but his health has been indifferent from around the second week of September, 2011.

With Vyjayanthimala

We have been acquainted with the screen image of Dilip Kumar (1922-2021) since our birth and have always loved him like the simple man next door, and got awed by his sad and melancholic looks. He was down to earth in most of his roles and seemed to have lived all the roles he played. This is hardly to overlook his image as the romantic hero of the Hindi cinema's classical era and we found him paired with almost all the leading ladies, particularly Vyjayanthimala with whom he danced around the bushes too and was paired the maximum number of times. Apart from being entertained by him in many later movies like Ram Aur Shyam or Gopi we always held him in great esteem and respect. His movie songs mostly rendered by Mohammed
Rafi are evergreen numbers even for the new generation.

With Amitabh Bachchan

It is for his true-to-life performances that the Indian legendary film director Satyajit Ray described him as the perfect ‘method’ actor of Indian Cinema. Superstar of the millennium Amitabh Bachchan has described him as the greatest actor ever.

Dilip Kumar debuted in 1944 with a movie Jwar Bhata and tasted box office success in his very next film. He earned a breakthrough role in Andaz (1949) where he starred alongside Raj Kapoor and Nargis in a love triangle. While his movies in the early fifties earned him the title of ‘Tragedy King’ many other movies also established his romantic or historic or even comic image. His Mughal-e-Azam(1960) was a landmark historical film and held the record of being the biggest Bollywood grosser till 2008. 

In the seventies his career suffered a temporary setback with several films not doing that well and he took a five-year break from movies in 1976. However, he returned with renewed vigor in Kranti (1981) where he played a character role and that marked the beginning of his equally successful stint as a character actor. Though cast as a character actor his roles in most films were often pivotal dominating the full plot and for our generation movies like Shakti (1982--with Amitabh Bachchan) and Mashaal (1984--with Anil Kapoor) still remain as the most remembered. He continued acting till his last screen appearance in 1998. However with his heroine-wife Saira Banu he was always seen in celebrity events and interviews.

With Saira Banu

For his tremendous and lasting contribution to Indian Cinema the Government of India honored him with Padmabhushanin 1991 and the supreme cine-honor Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. He was the first ever recipient of the Filmfare Best Actor award in 1954 for his film Daagand he shared his record of the maximum number of Filmfare awards only with Shahrukh Khan of modern Bollywood. He was also immensely popular in Pakistan and the Government of Pakistan honored him with the highest civil award Nishan-e-Imtiazin 1997. 

We salute the legend and pray for the eternal bliss of his noble soul. Dilip Kumar will remain our hearts forever.

Movie Chennai Express: Vintage Shahrukh In The Biggest Bollywood Grosser!

It is not for nothing that Chennai Express has broken all records in Bollywood history and Rohit Shetty has become the most successful director ever of Indian Cinema. Shahrukh Khan’s Chennai Express has crossed Rs.202 crore (2020 million rupees) mark beating the four-year-old record set by Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots. Rohit Shetty has already given three Rs.100 crore club movies namely, Singham, Golmaal3 and Bol Bachchan, and this unique feat has never been achieved by any other Indian film director.  Chennai Express in its third week run has achieved this with loving audiences all over and overcoming quite a few bad reviews. The reasons are not far to seek.

You are pleasantly reminded of the Shahrukh Khan of yesteryear when he was superlative in comedy scenes for his immaculate timing, for his sprightful elegance and for his typical gesticulations plus monosyllables. All these qualities of the Bollywood superstar have come back in Chennai Express to regale you yet again and you are indeed grateful to Rohit Shetty, the director of this blockbuster, for presenting King Khan in all his royal comic flavors. You can call Chennai Express a super comedy flick with an underlying serious plot or you can call it a masala humdinger with an uplifting super comedy track. However, with Rohit Shetty around you are much better off with the first option and enjoying the movie unconditionally and without complaints concerning your sense of logic or the logical senselessness about the whole thing.

Maybe Rohit Shetty himself would have been better off keeping a matching lighter plot throughout thus putting some sense into it. From the very beginning of this almost a bilingual Bollywood movie the dead seriousness of the story never leaves you with bulky and sinister characters around adding more scares to it. The main lead Rahul (Shahrukh Khan), a Hindi speaking mithaiwala from Mumbai, hatched a conspiracy to freak out with his friends in Goa over the assignment of immersing the ashes of his grandfather in Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, but then had to take the designated Chennai Express train from Mumbai and thus getting entangled with Tamil speaking Meenamma, the female lead played by Deepika Padukone. If Rahul was in a double-jeopardy Meenamma was in a far more precarious situation being captured by her Don dad’s goons to get her married by force at hinterland Tamil Nadu. But then, if the plot was not serious enough the ridiculous scenes of language tangles could not have given you the laughs for which you would probably go to the theater again. Contrary to various opinions expressed I would like to state that the bilingual structure of the movie is its most enlivening feature and it is unique in Bollywood more used to dubbing or remaking rather than charting out bold originals.

Therefore, the so-called ‘senselessness’ part of the movie is a foregone allegation. You are treated with giggles, laughs and howls all the way and this is what makes sense—courtesy Rohit Shetty who never forgets his flying cars or chases or the powerful 'lion' punches in any of his films. In this movie too the climax was as formulaic as it was predictable. 

As we have maintained Shahrukh has given a vintage performance and after a couple of rather listless years he has delivered masterstroke tying up with Rohit Shetty to produce this ‘senseless’ wonder. His marketing strategy of taking the Chennai Express  into almost every popular television serials for over a month has worked wonderfully by roping in his admirers thronging households across the country. However, his new-found love for ‘never underestimate the power of the common man’ line has asserted itself a little too often. Deepika Padukone, not so famous for her acting prowess, has given a sterling performance too taking a lot of pains to inculcate the Tamil accent. The chemistry rather the linguistic chemistry between the two is just deliriously funny.

Lose your senses... and enjoy!

Shahrukh Khan Had The Last Big Laugh!

Shahrukh Khan, the Bollywood superstar, who was recently banned for five years from entering Mumbai's Wankhede stadium during an IPL match then enjoyed the support of Mamata Bannerji, the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Because, Mamata considered KKR, co-owned by Shahrukh, as a matter of pride for her state. And today, Mamata 'right'fully sought to overpower what is left of the 'left' by dancing with the stars and, of course, with Shahrukh amidst pomp and plenty.

KKR became the deserving Champions of IPL-5 preventing CSK from running with the title for the third time in succession. The nail biting IPL-5 final was played in Chennai and King Khan was very much there tense most of the time. Finally, when the great moment of victory came he was so overwhelmed with joy that he apologised for his 'misbehaviour' in Mumbai! His 'stakes' with the Indian cricket Board now combined with his 'apology' would virtually force Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to take back its ban verdict. To make matters best the Bollywood-star son of the MCA President was part of the Shahrukh-KKR celebrations!

Raising a fever pitch for 'Kolkata' patriotism Shahrukh and party held a huge celebration at the Eden Gardens today. And, Mamata Bannerji and her entire government joined the party! She danced, sang and propagated 'pride of West Bengal' and 'national cricket spirit'!

Indian Premiere League (IPL) represents huge business and money interests. Significantly, Mamata recently met Hillary Clinton, the visiting US Secretary of State, for strictly 'business and investment'. Therefore, Mamata means business at the moment and her full state machiery including even the governor joining KKR party must indeed be taken seriously! It hardly matters if nobody speaking her language figured in the Shahrukh team that 'won' for her state. But the great lady is dead 'right' as always and nothing is just right for the 'left'.

King Khan should worry about only one thing though! Mamata was heard saying today that KKR must win for her next year around too! Her 'merciless' ways are very well known and felt all around nowadays!

Thousands thronged Kolkata streets and Eden Gardens today. Whom are they shouting for? Mamata or Shahrukh or KKR or patriotism or nationalism or IPL or...Cricket? Guessing allowed!

IPL-5 Mega-Show: Co-owner Shahrukh Khan Banned! RCB Player Arrested!

The murky affairs of the Indian Premiere League-Season Five (IPL-5) Cricket T20 continue abated. Today the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) held a managing committee meeting in Mumbai and unanimously adopted the proposal of banning Bollywood megastar and Co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL franchise, Shahrukh Khan (SRK or King Khan), for five years from entering the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai where the movie-star allegedly misbehaved with MCA officials and security personnel. The meeting was chaired by the president of MCA, Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is also a cabinet minister in the Government of India. 

The MCA maintained that theirs is an independent body and is empowered to take binding decisions on matters directly relating to them. But as the apex body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is also empowered to take the final decision in this matter and the expected tussle within the cricket bodies is awaited with tremendous anticipation. Apart from being an IPL co-owner Shahrukh Khan  contributes a lot to the IPL glamor and business and therefore the BCCI is most likely to find the going very tough indeed. 

The King Khan controversy has attained a hilarious political angle with Mamata Bannerji, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, coming out strongly in support of SRK and demanding 'MCA must withdraw the ban'. The ebullient and unpredictable lady must have found a regional angle in that issue since SRK happens to own Kolkata (Knight Riders), the capital from where she operates, and that the superstar has been a familiar cheering presence in the famous Eden Gardens there since the birth of IPL in 2008. Shahrukh Khan who hit back yesterday on the Wankhede brawl was yet to react to the latest development. 

Meantime Luke Pomersbach, an Australian playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), was arrested last night in a Delhi five-star hotel for molesting an American woman of Indian origin and for injuring her fiance. Reports say that Pomersbach invited himself to a party in the lady's hotel room and later misbehaved with her. When her fiance tried to intervene Pomersbach attacked him violently and he had to be admitted into a hospital. While RCB regretted the incident and expelled the player from the team the IPL authorities dissociated themselves from the incident calling it a case of individuals and that there were no official IPL parties for the franchises and players. As per latest reports Luke Pomersbach got an interim bail and cried out his innocence. 

Apart from Mamata's 'regionalism' more political reactions are surfacing against the mess in IPL. Former cricketer and opposition Member of Parliament, Kirti Azad, had threatened to sit on a  fast in a Delhi stadium from May 20, 2012 if the police failed to act against the IPL. 

That the IPL-5 has come to score high on the 'cricket' aspect ultimately proves to be an aberration. Essentially, as we have maintained since its inception, it is an intoxicating cocktail of dirty money, greed, immorality, glamor, liquor and women. BCCI or IPL authorities cannot dissociate themselves from any ugly happening because only they have provided the murky environment. Players from all around the globe come to participate just for the money and fun. With the matters as of now the IPL degeneration looks set to deteriorate further in near future. 

Long live cricket! 

Cricket T20: Now The King Khan Controversy Dogs IPL-5!

As the heat and humidity increase the cricket T20 Indian Premiere League-Season Five (IPL-5) is increasingly getting most of the heat from reasons other than nature. It has already earned the distinction of having the most number of nail-biting matches of all IPLs including a record ten last-ball finishes so far. On the flip side there is the spot fixing menace unearthed by a television channel sting operation recently. Now, Hindi movie mega star Shahrukh King Khan adds to it by one more display of alleged rowdy behavior.

It was a crucial match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at the latter’s ‘home’ ground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai—the venue of the World Cup-2011 final. Shahrukh Khan, the co-owner of KKR, had been very much visible in the crowd waving to the galleries with television cameras catching him every now and then in between the ‘cricket’ action. King Khan, known for his exemplary ‘love’ for cricket, always made it a point to attend matches where KKR figured. In Kolkata, the ‘home’ ground for KKR, a few days back KKR did everything right to win the match and just about sealed it with the rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) needing 5 runs of the last ball. But alas! To the utterly-bitterly disappointment of King Khan the CSK batsman Bravo sent the last ball towering over the ropes for a huge six and CSK won by 5 wickets. Mercifully, the cameras could not find a possibly devastated Shahrukh then!

At the Mumbai match on May 16, 2012 KKR posted only a moderate total of 140 runs and nobody gave them a real chance including, maybe, a pensive Shahrukh considering MI’s formidable batting strength. But led by an intense skipper Gautam Gambhir KKR bowled out MI winning convincingly by 32 runs. Understandably, the celebrity star must have been in the highest of spirits for the incredible win and also for the fact that KKR had now almost ensured its place in the last four.

Reports say that an excited Khan, possibly in an inebriated state, went to the dressing room with his posse of bodyguards and congratulated his team players. Then he supposedly tried to walk into the ground perhaps to celebrate with the crowds with his invincible star appeal that  could have cheered up the depressed MI ‘supporters’.

At this point the stadium security personnel and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) officials objected and an ugly scuffle followed. The reports further say that an angry Khan abused all the MCA officials including their president and even supposedly manhandled them. Furious MCA officials held an emergency meeting and decided to ban the superstar from entering the Wankhede Stadium for life. A complaint against the movie star was also lodged at the nearby Marine Drive police station. The officials maintained that the IPL authorities witnessed the incident and that they would also represent the case with the Indian cricket Board (BCCI).

The problem here is that if King Khan really gets banned a huge percentage of IPL glamor is bound to be rudely curtailed. The point seemed to be very well understood by the IPL Chairman who told reporters that all the sides and all the versions of the story would be taken up and discussed before endorsing the MCA decision or arriving at a new verdict. 

Perhaps the energetic and the sentimental mega star could not strike the right or desired balance between agony and ecstasy! 

Meanwhile, King Khan had hit back making the same allegations of abuse against MCA officials and security personnel. He charged them with alleged ‘abuse’ and ‘manhandling’ of his children at the end of the match when he went to the stadium only to pick them up. He further said he was not under the influence of alcohol and he refused to apologize demanding apology from MCA people instead. Mumbai Police had also registered a non-cognizable offence against Shahrukh. The confusing scenario is expected to clear up when the police examines the CCTV footage.

At the moment the SRK mystery thickens! 

Chill, Shahrukh, Cricket Etc...

Mumbai continues to chill this season. Two days back it was at 10 degree Celsius, lowest of the decade. Met office predicts Mumbai winter to continue throughout February. Great times for Mumbaikars--getting used to their woolens and warm suits. Plus having the luxury of bonfires. But, as we have said earlier here, some monumental challengers still refuse to admit the chill and go on defying it with their usual casual wear and the ceiling fan   syndrome. 

And some hot news from Bollywood. Shahrukh Khan or King Khan reportedly slapped the husband of his best friend for nearly twenty years, Farah Khan. Farah had been a choreographer of Bollywood guiding Shahrukh to dance since the early nineties. Their bond became more closer when Farah was given a break as a director of the King Khan movie 'Main Hu Na' in 2004 and then one more movie in 2007. Both of the movies did quite well in the box office and so Farah wanted to launch her own production house and start a movie naturally with Sharrukh. Accordingly a script was handed over to Shahrukh which he returned for some changes. But Farah went on to make the movie without her best friend. The first hurt for King Khan. Then Farah's husband reportedly criticized Shahrukh's dream movie 'Ra-One' via micro-blogging. Then in the party thrown by Sanjay Dutt to celebrate the success of his latest movie late Sunday night Farah's husband reportedly followed King Khan around putting some whispers in his ears. The third hurt and maybe Shahrukh was pained in drawing a blank in this year's Filmfare film awards that happened in the same night. So the not-so-cinematic slap followed. At the moment everybody is in denial mode except Farah who has been defending her husband stoutly. 

Meantime the shortest T20 cricket is starting between India and Australia tomorrow to be followed by the one-dayers involving Sri Lanka as the third team. The new specialists have come back into the team. The Test debacle is thus relegated to the back burner with the cricket Board maintaining its silence. The heated debate on 'Who should be the Captain' is still doing the rounds as if changing the captain will automatically solve and close the issue. For the cricket crazy millions of India the focus is again on Team India. 

Shahrukh Khan’s Ra. One: A Hit or Just Break Even?

Ra.One—Shahrukh Khan’s most ambitious project called a vision written and directed by Anubhav Sinha, the most expensive Hindi movie ever (a budget of over US $30 million), the first Hindi movie at par with Hollywood special effects blockbusters, the first Hindi movie to release in over 4000 screens globally, the first Hindi movie to create all-time overseas box office collection records and top grosser in weekend collections—released on the Diwali day (October 26, Wednesday) all over. It lost out to Salman Khan’s Bodyguard in first day collection, but went on to overcome on the second day and the five-day weekend collections. 

But after the weekend the movie’s box office collections started to fall drastically and the trend continued with shows heavily cut down in the second week. The fall continued in the second weekend and the third weekend is tough competition due to the release of  the Ranbir Kapoor starred Rockstar. Ra.One is still far behind all recent blockbusters of Salman Khan and Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots. The significant fact is that all these movies have been made at almost one-third of Ra. One’s budget. Is this mega-movie a hit or just break even? 

Read the Full Review Here...

Big B and King Khan in Kaun Banega Crorepati!

Amitabh Bachchan, the host of the current version of Kaun Banega Crorepati, invited Shahrukh King Khan for a special show yesterday, the 20th of October, 2011. Running for nearly two hours the show had everything the great Twosome was capable of delivering, acting, enacting and just talking. 

Basically King Khan came to the show as a publicity stunt for his forthcoming science fiction movie Ra..0ne (meaning Random Access-Version 1.0). But once on the hot seat one has to play. And, Shahrukh played on with his customary wit and presence of mind matched equally point to point by Big B and won 5 million rupees for charity. The invited audience had a treat of lifetime seeing two huge favorites playing it out right before them. 

They taunted each other, made jibes at each other and also exchanged seats for brief while. Shahrukh even walked up to Big B and massaged his back trying to catch a view of the host's monitor screen while telling how the massage eases up tension to play the game better! The issue of Shahrukh hosting the show once also came up with King Khan at his humble best apologizing for the audacity! He invariably addressed Big B as 'Sir' all the time. This is worth noting that the legend is always addressed as 'Sir' by anyone coming in contact--irrespective of whether s/he belongs to film fraternity or to the cultivating profession.

It was a fun-filled episode anyone could have enjoyed to his/her heart's content. The channel producers definitely knew the marketing potential of such a show! 

You may like to read a related article here...

Khan Cricket

Shahrukh Khan, the superstar of Bollywood. A huge success.

And he buys a cricket team. Performance in the first IPL was so and so.

But IPL-2 is super duper flop. Kolkata Knight Riders have lost 7 of the 9 games played and is languishing at the bottom of the table.

What went wrong? Well it was a leadership crisis. If you did not have faith in Saurav Ganguly you should have just dropped him or put him out of captaincy. But you tried to introduce the concept of multiple captains which meant you had no faith in anyone. Leader has to be one who can lead a team of 11 members and who can inspire them to perform above par. And you dared to criticize Gavaskar, the living legend of Indian cricket.

A cricket team can be bought thanks to BCCI, but what is finally played in the field has to be and is cricket. That cricket you cannot buy and manipulate.

Despite having terrific players KKR is crying hoarse for a leader. They are just not inspired. They are dropping simple catches regularly and are losing what they should have won.

Just think of the fate of a ship out on a stormy sea managed by multiple captains!