Arun Rajagopal

The Blue Billion Grieves; I watch 300, Desamuduru & Detective March 24, 2007

So the Men in Blue are effectively out of the World Cup, thanks to their disastrous performance against Sri Lanka yesterday. A lot on rely on the upcoming Bermuda vs. Bangladesh match – if the Bermudans manage to upset the rollicking Bangladeshi apple cart, Indian paper tigers can squeeze into the Super Eights through the back door. Highly unlikely, I say.
The team’s performance from the start has been disappointing – they started their campaign on the wrong note when they got mauled by giant-killing Bangladesh, before managing a consolation win over minnows Bermuda, before getting thumped in the bollocks by a rip roaring Lankan Lions.
I never expected or hoped India to bring home the World Cup, for that matter they were not even probable semi-finalists. Simply because, India has never looked like a professional cricketing team in recent times. At best, it’s just a motley crew of 11 individuals, stalwarts in their right, who basically follow the ‘all or none law’ in their game – either they all play well or they all play like hell. The ‘men in blue’ seemed to be senile tigers on the field, lacking in energy, discipline, temperament or enthusiasm and rather so full of inertia. The only time I have seen them perform well is in the stupid commercial endorsements they wholeheartedly give their ‘mind, body, soul and heart’ to.
I know that cricket’s just a game and that there is so much pressure on the boys to perform and the entire expectations of a billion fans rests on their puny shoulders – fine – but if you can’t perform on the big stage, if you cant handle the pressure, I think you oughta sit outside the game.
A few recommendations to better cricket in India – give voluntary retirement to all our cricketing heroes who have crossed 30 – we have had enough with their ‘experience’; put a ceiling to the amount of money these ‘players’ are earning out of their endorsements – did you know that they are the highest-paid sports team in the world, in terms of sponsorship – and no tax waivers please; and improve the domestic cricket system to allow more competitive domestic players don the national colours in the international arena.
Since Chappell took over from his predecessor John Wright, India has won 32 out of 62 ODIs and 7of the 18 Test matches. Hopefully BCCI should look for a good cricketing coach from the land of a blue billion, who is competent enough to ‘coach’ this team. May be that is the greatest tragedy to have befallen Indian cricket, after all the great Indian coach is an elusive being, and not to be found in a land in need of real heroes.
A quick word to our nation’s bike, biscuit and cola sellers – if you are banking on this bunch of losers to sell your stuff, then please be aware that me as a consumer has already started doubting the quality of your products, cuz after all they are your brand ambassadors who stand for what you sell, right?

On a better note, I watched ‘300‘ (English) with a friend at Ruwi Cinema yesterday. Never seen such a kick-ass ‘war’ movie off late. Inspired by a graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 is based on the epic battle of Thermopylae, where Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his army of more than one million soldiers, while in Sparta, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to rally support for her husband. The are pluses aplenty in 300 – free flowing blood and gore, thrilling action sequences, captivating photography, the terse narration by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham) and a stirring background score. I’m now hunting for 300’s OST by Tyler Bates. 300 is one of the best flicks out in Muscat this year.

Also watched Telugu flick ‘Desamuduru‘, written and directed by Puri Jagannadh, at Star Cinema. Allu Arjun (nephew of Tollywood megastars Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi) and Hansika Motwani star in this flick with a plot that goes like – freak out TV journalist Bala Govind (Allu Arjun) gets into a skirmish with a band of Tamilian goons, retreats to Kulu Manali to escape their vendetta, falls in love with Vaishali (Hansika), a young damsel who is living the life of a hermit, hero falls in love, and then it turns that our hermit heroine is connected to the band of goons who then take her back to Hyderabad and then it is all left for the wonderboy to shut shop on villains and get the groove going with his lady love. Oops. You will like Desamuduru for Allu Arjun’s fight and dance scenes, and of course Rambha’s try at an item number – also I quite liked Puri Jagannadh’s opening credits in this movie – where the man on the street picks his favourite Tollywood hero – before launching Allu.

I also watched Suresh Gopi’s latest Malayalam flick – ‘Detective’ at Star Cinema – highly recommended for all Scotland Yard sleuths out there, the rest of you can probably go for a walk in the park – would be more productive that staying holed up in a theatre trying to come to terms with this crime/suspense/thriller pot-boiler.