Boredom

The mental side of sports has always fascinated me. Earlier, I thought Cricket to be the most demanding of mental game but then every sports, be it Tennis, Golf, Motor sports etc. has got it's share of mental gumption. But Test Cricket is gotta be at the top of this list. You play 6 hrs of Cricket for full five days in front of a sizeable crowd. You gotta be at the top of the game at all times. You cannot slug out there and if you have a reputation to fight for and are an ageing star, currently struggling with form and facing an almighty bowling attack in a foreign land, in front of a hostile crowd who loves to hate you, you just cannot stop fighting. This deadly combination will devour you day in and day out. And that's exactly what happened to Alastair Cook in the first three Magellan Ashes Test Matches. He went 10 innings without a fifty and for a cricketer who is a veteran of 150 Test matches with more than 11000+ test runs, that's as much a dreaded nightmare as one cou

I was watching David O' Russell's Three Kings yesterday and after the first hour which was accentuated with brilliant comic timing from it's many characters, I thought the film opted out for a 'preachy' rout which was undoubtedly a right one but too easy to predict. My point is that after Katherine Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, everyone got the real point of a worthless war and the true meaning of films such as 'Three Kings' got lost in translation. It doesn't really matter now whether it was Saddam who was bad or Bush Sr. Or Jr. They all did some things right and some things terribly wrong. But at the end, only poor people died and more suffered. All in all, films like Three Kings lost its context in year 2017.

A few days ago, one of our fellow contributors posted a question about our likeness for a 'guilty pleasure' movie and favorite selections. I didn't comment on that thread but mine would have been most probably 'Harry Potter films'. But then, we have all got our list of favorite actors, actresses and their combinations. I have a favorite pair of my own and that's Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine, two of the most decorated Academy Actors of last five decades. I just love seeing Jack in action and as far as Sir Caine's abilities are concerned, I haven't watched a lot of his films but whatever I have seen of him, it has endeared him to me. So when I came across a film where this dream pair was cast and then too in an A-List capacity, I jumped onto it. Film's name was 'Blood and Wine' and it also starred a young Jennifer Lopez and Steven Dorff. My dream pair cooks up a great conspiracy and since it was a bad plan with bad payoffs, it inevitably f

The Harry Potter Film most endeared to me is 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' and I grew fond of it because of it's two headlining Villainous​ (aka anti-Hero) characters: Professor Lupin and Sirius Black. I have watched it four times if I correctly remember the count. And just like the film and these two characters, I also grew fond and respectful of acting prowess of Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. I had Googled them then and came to know that Gary Oldman had already became an acting giant by then and his primary motivation for doing that film was money. Since then, he has become an eternal favorite to me. But, but I was simultaneously taken aback by Professor Lupin's acts in the film and David's performance and his powerful voice which was as magnificent as his fellow compatriot, the Mighty Alan Rickman's (Severus Snape), were just too good to ignore. Till then, his most high profile and Breakthrough role was that of a motormouth Manchester homeless person in Mike

A day before yesterday, I posted a series of five topics I was to write about in few days. Well I am starting with the sixth 'unlisted' topic. It's an important one and like many important topics which I often forget to write about, I forgot about it as well. I am truly sorry. The topic in discussion here is 'Deadwood'. It was a western TV series produced by HBO for 3 seasons starting in 2004. It's often is clubbed as the greatest TV series of all time with 'The Sopranos' and 'The Wire', coincidentally it's brethren on HBO. It was cancelled too soon by it's producers because production cost shot up too much and great recession of 2008 was already in motion and since then, and it is now 10 years, the fans of this show are begging HBO to bring it back. So why was 'Deadwood' so famous? Just like 'The Wire', not many people watched it (but they were certainly more than the nos Wire fetched). There were three main reasons

My primary reasons for watching House of Cards are only two. First is Kevin Spacey who is an acting God and second the political hotchpotch that American federal system goes through. Now the Dynamics that inhibit House of Cards can be mind-boggling and that's in no small parts find it's origin in Frank and Claire Underwood's dirty deeds. HoC just completed it's fifth season run and even in it's fifth season, it scored four Emmy nomination and most importantly, one for outstanding drama series. Now if you ask me if it's really outstanding, I would say 'no' having watched it's first 8 episodes out of 13 for nothing really happens. It's like watching GoT season 6 where barring the last 2 episodes, nothing happened and it truly resembled like a Bollywood formulaic film. But we all know GoT is nothing without it's last two episodes and it always makes them grand through slow burning of it's preceding episodes. But how many shows can afford suc

During the World War 1 years, the Irish lads were used to carry oats and barley as provisions in the battlefields. In the poem titled 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley', a young Irish lad bemoans the fact that he would have to sacrifice his true love for the love of his motherland but he must take pride in the fact that he is serving Her. In the film by the same name, the titular character Damien O' Donovan, played superbly by Cillian Murphy, says "When I wanted to serve diligently the Irish people in the war against Britishers, they didn't take me in. Now I don't like it but I cannot quit". Damien O' Donovan didn't want to serve anymore in the war not because he was tired of it or afraid of dying but simply because his own brethren defeated the purpose of the war he so personally fought. He was a brilliant medical student and could have ended up being one of the finest doctors practising in London but he succumbed to the vagaries of the war. He did

I have written on 'The Wire'. I have written on 'Lost'. I have appreciated the Heisenberg of 'Breaking Bad' and before my enthusiasm transports me to another avenue, I would like to pen some words on 'The Sopranos'. The TV Show that paved way for most of the daring shows we get to see on American Television and help kick-started it's current and second 'Golden Era'. Many call it the greatest ever and the nos of this 'many' are getting reduced every year for every year, we get to see at least dozens of path-breaking and absolutely unbelievable stories on TV and viewers of these TV shows have barely had any sniff of Tony Soprano's measured crimes. But I am a member of this 'many' and I concur with their label on it. So what's so great about 'The Sopranos'? The show premiered on HBO way back in 1999 and ran for six seasons till 2007. It survived 9/11, it survived existential crisis of millennials, it survived th

The fact that some of my friends made a note of when I objected to Trump's Ascension to US Presidency that He could really be 'different'. So here is the proof, friends, 'not really'. Fahrenheit 9/11 claimed through US finance ministry sources that Saudi Arabia owned 11% of US GDP in 2004 and that data have only made a jump in years afterwards. If Sheikhs of Saudi decide to withdraw all of their money at once from US Banks, US of A would bankrupt. We all know Saudi Arabia as the flagbearer of Wahabi and Salafi Islamic Schools and they are the ones who have funded all incidents of Islamic Terrorism in the world. Osama was their son. USA has to love Pakistan not because of it's role in defying Russians in Afghan war of 1990s but because of it's close ties with Saudis. Every US President has been in 'bed' with Saudi Sheikhs and that will always be the case till the time Saudis have crude oil wells at their disposals and by that time, Saudis might own ha

To be frank, Modi's several surgical strikes over Pakistan bunkers didn't impress me one bit. The fact that they could be even manipulated made me doubt them some more. But more than anything, they didn't solve any purpose. Pakistan has been engaged with us in a Guirella Warfare. They are a small nation and could only prick us. It's us who make a big deal about it and shout foul. They kill our 4, we kill their 8. What do we gain? Soldiers are recruited for the very purpose on battlefields: To defend or die. It's the foreign policy that matters most. How we tackle an apparent threat from an Enemy nation in long and short term and what tactics should we employ form the Crux of it. BJP, the right wing national party of our nation, is when sitting in opposition makes such hue and cry over a Pakistani infiltration that it appears that when they would sit on the iron throne, they would obliterate Pakistan from World Map on day 1 of their regime. A man as Iron Willed a Mod

Test Cricket is a game of exultant victories and heartbreaking losses. A game of glorious uncertainties is how the grand old commentators liked to address it. Yesterday at Dominica, when going into the last session of this test match, it was all but assured that it's Pakistan's game to lose control of and Pakistan shed any such notions off by taking one crucial wicket only in the third over after resumption. It was going to be their first series victory on Caribbean soil which even the greats like Javed Miandad and Imran Khan couldn't achieve. A perfect send-off to two of their greatest warhorses of recent times. But WIndies didn't buckle under pressure and their three tailenders played down 99 extremely testing deliveries to provide more than able support to their master anchor Roston Chase who completed his 2nd century in his 10th test match and was on the move to save 2nd test match singlehandedly for his side. He has already become the beacon of Hope for West Indies

Today is the last day of Dominica Test match. It's not an ordinary day. Firstly, it might warrant all three possible results which isn't usually the case with all test matches. Secondly, two Pakistani Stalwarts are having their final days in the office. I'm following the match today the moment it went live. It shouldn't and couldn't have been missed. All the 11 members of Pakistani Cricket team as well as their support staff were getting their pictures taken. In the central spot were two indefatigable torch bearers of their team: Younus Khan and Misbah ul Haq. Today was their day. Yesterday, they both played their last innings in competitive cricket and left their team not too much strongly placed but no one really bothered about it. Misbah made 2 and fell to a filthy slog that was attempted on a delivery not 'that' fullish in length. Younus too fell to a sweep shot but it owed mostly to fielder's brilliance and his one-handed catch. But what happened b

I clearly remember the race to 2015 Oscars..It was one of the most memorable ones in recent times because of the quality of films on display. No one really knew till the end which film was gonna win the Oscars. It needed not to be The Revenant, well Leo and Tom were good in it but the first itself was an excruciating experience and unfathomably grim. And thus Academy surprised us with it's decision of awarding best film to 'Spotlight'. A pretty fantastic decision considering no one begrudged it afterwards. But does the Academy really need to surprise us every year just because it wants to elude to most important of decisions? Why can't it like the most overwhelming of films to give the award to like it did with The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire? Or so Academy wanted me to test it's incredible selection decision once more? Come Oscars 2016. I believe I watched the name of La La Land topping every prominent critics' list leading to this ceremony. Moo

I have been offered this book by it's publishers and initially I was hesitant in reviewing it. However, one thing about this book I found very interesting and it was the mention of 'Angkor Wat'. When I was student of Class 7 or 8th (I don't remember correctly), my Hindi book had a chapter about the famous Angkor Wat temple which has various Hindu Deities as its guardians. The mere indication that my religion and country had its traces of identity elsewhere in the world gave me goosebumps and I wouldn't be shying away from the fact that it became one of my most favorite chapters in that book and I visited it innumerable times. So Dr. Ezhuth Aani's book had one interesting thing for me and that was enough to bring me on-board. So I started reading it. The first thing I noticed was that it was originally written by Dr. Aani in Tamil and received critical acclaim in Tamil literary community. So my expectations, having read this mention, rose manifolds. Secondly, 1

It was 2004. WrestleMania 20, yes.....That was the time I first acquainted myself, in real, with WWE. I never got a chance to watch that ruggedly notorious 'WWF' where fights were fought to the extremes. Pro wrestler of that era, Attitude Era WWE calls it now, were used to shed their blood in bucketful. They cut themselves, threw themselves in fire and whatnot, jumped from 30 feet high cages or 20 feet ladders, buried themselves in mud and cement and above all, did them all for their fans' sake. They came up with a new definition of 'entertainment'. They were the real Supermen. But by 2004, internet had arrived. And things were bound to change. So 2004. Yes, the time WWE relaunched themselves in India after a two year period hiatus. The reasons of hiatus were and are still unknown. I had cable TV in my home. It was April and when I switched on the TV, a new TV channel named Ten Sports was flashing across my screen and the very first thing I saw broadcast there was

There is a reason why more and more people are deserting Raw and tuning to WWE Smackdown. The opening act/promo Miz and Cena cut today was just AWESOME and it was a classic example of rash talk WWE was known for in its heydays. Guys like Roddy Rowdy Piper, Ric Flair, HBK, Stone Cold, The Rock made their legendary careers out of these rash talks only when they backed it up with their superior in-ring skills. And you gotta admit that Miz is the most improved pro wrestler in entire world right now. The guy is simply unstoppable and his promos are always solid. He is a Hollywood commodity and his in-ring character matches his real life. He is a heel who always manages to draw heat from the crowd and that makes him a royalty considering Raw had to bring Jericho out of his many semi-retirements to play a successful heel. I mean, if you can make Crowd love Cena and don't yell at him 'Cena Sucks', you gotta be bonafide Genius. So guys, it's high time you own up to Miz and start

Continuing from my last post on Oscars 2017, let's look at other best film nominees: D) Hidden Figures: For a better understanding of this film and history of 'space race' b/w Russia and USA back in 1960s-1980s, I shall strongly recommend you to watch 'The Right Stuff'. It's an epic film of 80s, quintessentially American and exquisitely narrated. Hidden Figures borrows heavily from The Right Stuff's coverage of America's space mission of Project Mercury and make it it's narrative backdrop. And it tells us the story of three Black American women mathematicians who did all the intensive computing and mathematical calculations that propelled John Glenn and his fellow astronauts into Space. Dubbed as the Feel Good film of the year, it's strongly acted by Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer. While Academy notoriously snubbed Taraji for a best actress Oscars, Octavia has won a nomination for the best supporting actress award. You will definitely fee

As per a ritual of movie enthusiasts like me, it's high and right time I come up with my Oscars predictions for year 2017. I have covered 8 of the 9 best picture nominees and I believe all the popular awards like best actor, director and actress shall come out from their closets only. And just like two previous years, this is gonna be a two-parts post. So let's begin..... A) Arrival : Although Academy doesn't like giving best film award to sci-fis (cases in contention could be Alien, Gravity and Stanley Kubrick's Magnum opus that I cannot recall), it would be another utter wrongdoing on Academy's part if Arrival skips it's radar. It's the ROOM of Oscars 2017....A completely original film with an adapted screenplay that will leave you emotionally shattered and completely awestruck. Oscars for best cinematography and adapted screenplay is due and definitely deserved. B) Moonlight: I strongly believe Moonlight scored an Oscars nomination for best film simp

I believe, despite the popular opinion, that no one in India really watches Cricket. They definitely follow it, I believe. In fact, they are forced to in absence of other popular sports. But that's a topic for another day for if they really care, I wanna tell them that Horror Show of Indian Cricket has just made a triumphant return in Pune. They made a pitch that took considerable turn from day 1. For once, I was happy because Aswin and Jadeja have toiled very hard for their wickets on benign tracks of NZ and England home series and thus they deserved something good for all their back-breaking efforts. All was left to achieve now was TOSS and Kohli lost it. And thus it started. Australia made a great start and made quite respectable 260. India lost it in their first innings. Jadeja bowled his guts out for no rewards. Reason: he was bowling a classic spinner's length and that's why despite beating Aussie batsmen's edges umpteen times, he only had 5 wickets to show in two

It's tragicomic in a sort of way that of all the wonderful Hollywood and world cinema I have been watching in loads in last three months, I am choosing to write about a Bollywood film here. Jolly L.L.B 2 is the subject here. It's a typical 'feel good' Bollywood film, no more, no less. Akahaye, Saurabh and Annu were up to the task and made everything work out to almost perfection. Dialogues were not over-the-top. Narrative though was certainly skewed to make audience empathize with Akshaye's gimmick. What disappointed me most was how over-the-top the court scenes were. They were unbearably unfathomable and made absolutely no sense. That Jammu Police let go of Fahim Butt and Jolly in the last scene simply because they won a famous trial in Lucknow was the part where I thought of terming this write-up tragicomic. This is where, I believe, Bollywood let go of its 'thinking' audience. Hollywood too doesn't care much when it churns out crowd pleasing summer bl

There was a time when Hollywood was all Jewish but now when it's trumpeting against Trump's temporary Muslim Ban, it seems there are more Muslims than ever in Hollywood now than ever. I have just gone through a list of Muslim Celebrities working in Hollywood and they were 31 in numbers. Some of them were world beaters at one point of their career and still command respect undoubtedly. And although I condemn Trump's ban and appreciate Meryl's speech given other day at Globes', I strongly believe these guys don't do anything else other than paying lip services to their fellow brothers and sisters in distress. They have the power, money and means to really counter such negative connotations and yet they only give speeches. And that's still a good thing for that shows that at least they are empathising but does it really do anything? There is also an aspect of these protests that troubles me. For 5-6 years now, both Yeman and Syria are ravaged with war and civil

And it all finally settled down and it took a while for all the emotions to sink in. Whenever Federer and Nadal fought their gladiatorial battles, the hearts of people watching always vouched for Federer and minds, Nadal. And so was the case today. It all went to the wire but at last, the heart had its victory and probably the sweetest one. Earlier in the day, I was going through 10 of the greatest matches list b/w these two and Federer at conclusion of one of his wins could see the future when he said that he wanted to win all he could before Nadal could have his say and although Federer never went away (as He won today), Nadal, Djoker and Murray all arrived. Nadal never became the king of jungle like Federer but it was Djoker, not Federer who trumped him in the race. Federer was still playing sublime tennis but it was a scant reminder of all the beautiful time in front of power tennis of Djoker. His power game also proved too much for the persevering and waiting game for Nadal but th

Sci-fi adventure films coming out of Hollywood in last couple of years are exhibiting the elements of an art-project combined with a dark theme and very strong ethereal, emotional appeal. They are catering to an individual, rather than a group of spectators. These tales are more personal yet the elements they are associated with are universal. They are unifying force. They address a universal problem in general and being film-narratives always come out triumphant. As much as I was disappointed over my inability to discern the meaning and patterns of Nolan's Interstellar, I was equally fascinated by the scope, creative imagination and emotional schemes of it. It was an unforgettable cinematic experience. And the hero of the film, although personally despondent, was working for the benefits of humankind. In 2015, it was Deux-Ex Machina. Oscar Isaac and Alicia Wikander headlined it. It explored the narrative of AI-run-Robots and what they could possibly do to us humans if badly treate

Cricket is all we like to see, feed and munch on during our day-to-day lives. And if that cricket is happening in a picturesque country such as New Zealand, we feel almost cheated and absolutely gutted to miss out on it. But this is what has been happening to us die-hard cricket fans in India for last three years starting well before the 2015 World Cup. Earlier we saw it as a one-time occurrence, even a technical glitch from a designated broadcaster for a particular series but then it became a trend and now no Indian broadcaster gives a damn about what's happening in NZ home summer. They definitely think of Australia as it's a bigger market for TV audience in India and worldwide but NZ for me at least is no average Joe and when you think of them one of only 10 full member nations to play cricket in world, no broadcasting for their home matches in a country as lucrative a market and as praiseworthy of good cricket and entertainment as India is SIN. I have started to hate this no

I believe people who are trolling Harshvardhan Kapoor on various social media outlets on his venting anger over Diljeet Dosanjh's Filmfare Best Male Debut award haven't even watched Mirzya. They just saw it's Box Office nos which were no doubt very disappointing but this was the film hogging all the limelight for better part of last couple of years. It's first trailer left everyone confounded but everyone believed that it's songs, acting and cinematography were outstanding. People were finding it mystical and then there was the presence of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra and Gulzar Saab with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy helming it's wonderful lyrical journey. Everyone praised the acting of Saiyaami Kher and Harshvardhan too but when the film bombed big time at the BO, the same everyone got incensed with with everything that was earlier wonderful in it. Harshvardhan then got compared to her 'lesser-talented' sister who earlier in the year was unequivocally praised for her b

'Finding Juliet' is the second book by our author here, Mr. Toffee. It's target audience is exclusively Gen-Y Indians. It's blurb gives the readers fair bit of idea about what's going to be in front of them and how it's gonna all end. Still, if you opt for it, you are going to cling to it in order to find out its ending just like you have been doing to all your Bollywood titles throughout your lives. It's fairly predictable and only its nice sketches of characters keep you hooked till the very end. Character development and smart first-person narrative are thus two high points of this book for me. Its protagonist, Arjun wants to find one true love in his life. There is nothing wrong with him and it might have to do something with today's generation of girls or the changing atmosphere (read SWOT) of our society that such guys aren't deemed very likable. So here is a serious issue and more of a mental block for Arjun to address and he really doesn

After Pakistan's scarcely believable 2nd innings performance in Gabbatoir, everyone expected them to give the Ozzies a run for their money in MCG and SCG. Although their bowling looked limp throughout the series, they looked very credible with the bat unlike the other subcontinent teams. But Pakistan, ever a champion of totally unpredictable and ultimately disappointing Cricket, lost both in MCG and SCG at the last days with 10 and 9 wickets in hand respectively. Subcontinent teams always find it very hard to win in Australia and thus even a respectable draw there amounts to a tremendous 'moral' win. But Pakistan made a royal mess of two perfectly Golden opportunities and that's when two of the more memorable innings of recent times in Azhar Ali's 205 and Younis Khan's 175* were played by them. They simply had to bat time on both the last days and they were playing totally stupid shots and taking unnecessary and imaginary singles when there were no need. The tre

Our Cricket World is never too far away from a sad incident. Kyle Abbott, a hardworking, honest fast bowler who always likes to wear his emotions on sleeves, has opted for a KOLPAK deal with Hampshire. A 100,000 British Pounds earning deal each year for three years including insurance and he left his beloved country, South Africa, for playing in English County Set-up. A White man doesn't get too many opportunities to play for South Africa in current set-up. Some couple of years ago, this wasn't the case but racial tensions have always been an undercurrent phenomenon of SA Cricket. Apartheid happened for a reason. Nelson Mandela fought for a reason and that reason was giving the majority population of South Africa which is predominantly black and mostly colored, a fair (and some might say, better) chance of representing their country on global stage, proudly. Cricket and Rugby have always been recognized as two spectator sports in which South Africans are outstanding. And that&#

You probably haven't heard of Sixto Rodriguez yet. Even in this era of ubiquitous Rock 'n' Roll music and hundreds of Music artists acting like demigods. You don't live in USA, you don't live in South Africa either. You also haven't managed to see Academy Award Documentary Winner, 'Searching for Sugar Man' for all the wrong reasons. You can beg pardon. You can YouTube Rodriguez. You can watch this amazing film and get overwhelmed. You can live happily thereafter. Start with Wiki. A suggestion. Rodriguez had the potential to become Bobby Dylan in 70s when Bobby Dylan wasn't even Bobby Dylan. He made two albums. His producers swore by them and him, considering both the greatest creation of Musicology in early 70s. But albums didn't sell. Probably 50 odd copies for both in his home country of USA. Even the black artists raised the hell in US Music Industry but a Hispanic personality, elusive at most of the times with a name like Rodriguez had no