IPL (cont..)

      If there is one team that deserves to win IPL 2010, it is MI without any doubt. Though, it is disappointing to see RCB losing like the way they are in the semi final, one must confess they were simply outclassed by MI's and Pollard. At the end of the semi final, if one looks at the points table and the team that RCB has, you will say that they should have reached semifinal very easily rather than depending on the net run rate. Further introspection into RCB's performance this year, they just didn't played well as a team some times and lost the key moments in some matches. Example, the DC match in Nagpur which they should have won quite comfortably; made a mess of it and lost it with a lot of difficulty. If they come together and play well as a unit at least against DC in the play off, I see no reason why they can't win the match and go to champions league.

Now that we know the finalists, it's time to gear up for the big sunday to see the spectacle. While the little master is not sure to play the final, it will be privilege to see him play and drive his team to lift the trophy. Being realistic, it might be asking to much of him to play after he himself confessed that he's got eight stitches to his hand. Having said that, I may not be surprised to see him in the toss on Sunday. I am gearing up to cheer MI to win the IPL and I am sure whole Chennai must be saying whistle podu...

Though the IPL final is supposed to be held on Sunday, the big final however seems to be on 26th April for Lalit Modi. His audacious approach made IPL a global sporting event and a profit making organization that one could only dream three years ago. Whether he will continue as IPL chairman or thrown out, or whosoever takes his place, no one can take away the credit from him what he had done and the success of first three year IPL should go to him. It doesn't matter who stays and who don't, what is important is that IPL to exist in India and most importantly the game nedds to be credible. For that to happen, IPL and BCCI should clean all the shit and allegations that has been made and to come out clean and transparent. Only then, IPL as a brand will stay with cricket lovers for a long time. (to be continued..)

IPL

Nothing in India generates as much interest and curiosity as these two things does. One is Films and the other is no doubt Cricket AND the third angle to it is Controversy. Controversies are there everywhere and with so much of money running on in IPL and movie starts and politicians being linked to it, all three will go hand in hand for sure, whether agree or disagree and the proof of it is the recent Kochi franchise controversy.


Keeping all the controversies and gossips aside, IPL is definitely is one of the biggest entertainment of the hot summer over the last two years and is going to much bigger in the coming years. The revenue that it is generating is a clear indication of the success it is achieved. IPL brand value in 2010 is expected to be more than $4 billion and is expected to grow at a rate of 100% every year. India being a cricket crazy nation must have helped to achieve this number. No doubt that IPL as a business is a revolution and considering that it is started only 2 years back, this is a achievement on its own kind.


Business aside, the biggest good that IPL is doing is for all the cricketers who never dreamt playing for India or at least to play in the big stage has a platform now to showcase their talent and of course benefiting monitorily from it will do a lot of good for their lives, their confidence and ultimately it is good for Indian cricket. When IPL started on 2008, no one would have given Rajasthan Royals a glimmer of chance to win the tournament that year, but that is what is happened at the end of the league. RR emerged as a surprise winner for 2008 and considering them being the least priced franchise and banking on a lot of unknown fringe Indian players, no one would have given a chance to win the tournament with that team and Shane Warne proved every one wrong with his unconventional leadership skills. Everyone in the world cricket knows that Warne has a great leadership skills, though he is never given chance to prove his mettle with Australian team, IPL has given him a chance and he grabbed it with both hands. It helped Ravindra Jadeja to get in to the national side and who can forget the contribution of ShaneWatson for the team which helped him to grab a place in Australian side and everyone knows how is performing and cemented his place. Same goes to the second year edition in South Africa where DC and RCB (who stood and 7th and 8th in first edition) played the final in J'berg and DC emerging as a winner is a worth to remember for years to come. Adam Gilchrist this time turned the magic around for DC's unimaginable roller coaster ride and they continued this year as well to reach semi finals winning last five games in a row to reach the stage. It is only possible with IPL that the unfancied players like Harmeet Singh, Kamran khan, Trivedi, Rayudu, Suman etc., will get noticed and get to play alongside greats like Gillchrist, Sachin, Warne etc., AND almost forgotten players like Robin Uthappa keep reminding you (the selectors) that how big mistake it is not selecting him WC T20. FANTASTIC is the word that comes to my mind when I see these many players/teams of different kinds coming out of no where, the making the unexpected happens.


It is quite evident that in the two editions of the IPL, the teams who has done well till now has a team of domestic players performing well for their teams at the right time. The resurgent MI is an example for this and the players like Tiwary, Rayudu doing well did a lot of good for their team and who can forget the contribution from the legend himself who is the owner of the orange cap now. He needs no introduction. Being RCB fan, I would love to see RCB winning this time, but their last game against MI has put a lot of doubts in my mind plus they will be playing MI in semifinal in Mumbai. That's quite lot of odds isnt't it? Let's see what happens, honestly I don't mind MI winning as well because of Sachin. Fingers crossed !!!! (to be continued...)

YMC vs VTV

Yesterday, when Sundar asked me to come for VTV (vinnaithandi varuvaayaa) tamil version of YMC (ye maya chesave), I was a little apprehensive since I already saw YMC four times and might end up comparing each frame of it. But, I know that I cannot say NO to this invitation as there are lot things that are dragging me to experience this film again, be it the music, the performances, the technical brilliance, the picturization of the songs that I am crazy these days plus the different climax which people are claiming is different from YMC. All put together I ended up in the PVR at 9 pm show yesterday to watch the movie for the fifth time. Sundar for the third time.

As film set to take off, the first thing that strike me was the English subtitles for a regional film, a good idea to improve the market for regional films. It is the first time I am seeing Simbu on big screen and I hardly seen any of his previous films earlier. But, whatever I had heard about him, they say that he has the torturous acting skills that anyone can dare to possess and there comes Trisha and the first impression is not great as I have already seen YMC four times and Samantha is one main reason for watching it so many times or may be the baggage Trisha has will not give you that impression. The first two songs of the films 'Hossana' and 'Omana pennae' are shot beautifully in different locations from what you see in YMC. The film has the same shot making in most of the scenes, though there are couple of scenes which I observed was great taking wise in YMC, one is the scene where Jessie proposes Karthik for the first time right after the marriage broke up(watch for camera work here in YMC) and another scene where Jessie asks Karthik to leave telling its all over. These two scenes are captured brilliantly in YMC and great example in terms of shot making and the actors performed brilliantly. Having said that, I must confess that in some of the scenes in the first half the VTV pair showed their experience and excelled with great ease. It's unfair to compare the acting and the pair between both the versions as both the pairs has dominated each other in some scenes. The bottom line is that both pairs did fantastic job and this Karthik and Jessie characters will remain among the best in their careers. Though, I personally love to see Chaitanya and Samantha than VTV pair as the young pair is lovely to watch on screen and Samantha here will score all the marks with her grace.

The only thing at the end that sets apart between both the films is the climax. Director Gautam really showed his cinematic brilliance at the end of the film when the couple who will give you an impression that they are together and got married are actually going to set apart and is not known till the final scene and ends with Mannippaya lyrics with beautiful Shreya ghoshal voice which perfectly suited the moment. It took some time for me to digest and understand what he has done in the VTV climax as the happy ending in YMC got sink ed into me. When thought of it as a film, I must confess that VTV has a realistic ending that stays with you.

When I go through my memory lane to check when was the last time I came to the theatre to see a film 5 times and I can recollect only one film Shiva which got released in 1989. I was a small kid at that time and I still remember going to theatre more than 20 times to see that film. I must be 7 yrs old when Shiva got released and when I think of it now and question myself what made me to see Shiva so many times at that age when one hardly know anything about films, it leaves me answer-less and the only reason why I must have seen it so many times is because I wanted to cherish the experience of that film again and again and again..and the same thing happening with YMC/VTV now. The language might be different, but the feel remains the same. It's really MAGICAL.

Ye Maya Chesave

If you are a Telugu cinema fan, how many times you would have come out of the theater commenting that this scene is good, this song is bad etc., and most of the times these days when we are seeing all kind of crap so called formula based films with no basics, wherein me as a normal movie goer felt many times that where is the Industry heading towards. If these are the kind of movies that we will be seeing frequently, then I seriously think that we need to grow up and say that I didn't liked it. But, we are programmed by many of the film makers so much that if someone does something correct, we say its not good just because its not like a certain type of cinema that they are expecting it to be. The correct here in my opinion has to be the proper story line with good technical values. The pity is that we are programmed exactly the opposite.

Ye Maya Chesave did not do any maya (magic) in terms of it story and screenplay. But, the magic is created by the director by just following the basics and following his heart but nothing else. The technical values are top notch and is on par with any other film you would have seen in this genre in India in the last five years (may be more than that). It has the shades of Maniratham kinda film making sometimes, but I'm not complanining on this factor as it is always good to copy a creator than a disciple. The colors the you see in the film are so good that it is a feast to your eyes. The lead pair (chaitanya and samantha) displayed amazing chemistry on screen . This film don't have dialogues rather have conversations that anyone who is in love would have gone through or felt atleast once in their relationship. The film is complimented with amazing A R Rahman music and BG score which just takes the film to another level of its own. It's a feel that no one should miss and must be enjoyed by every movie goer. It's the cutest love story that I have seen for some time now and for all those who are not in love will feel like falling in it once the movie is over. Don't miss it.

CONSCIENCE - PAVAN JAKKA

Watch my new short film "CONSCIENCE" at you tube and let me know your comments...