Sport and Movies - The Perfect SpEnt Combo

Yesterday I went to watch Chak De! India. Like everybody in India knows that there is Shahrukh Khan in it and that was one of the reasons I did not want to watch the movie. But the movie was on hockey. So, despite of my really warm feelings for Mr. SRK, I went and watched the movie.

To my surprise, the movie was really well made. And SRK has not shown any of his ridiculous histrionics in his earlier movies. This is indeed one of his finest performances.

After watching the movie I decided to come with 5 of the best and worst Sports based movies I have watched.

THE BEST
1. Rocky Series - Rocky Balboa is a small time Loan Shark working in Philadelphia. He is given a once in a lifetime shot at the World Heavyweight Championship by the current Heavyweight champion Apollo Creed. Apollo is the overwhelming favorite and Rocky the underdog. Punch after punch, block after block, Rocky matches with Apollo Creed. In the end, a split decision rules the bout in favor of Apollo Creed. But, Rocky is happy as he became the first boxer to 'go the distance' with Apollo Creed and could walk out of the ring with his head held high. This is the plot of the first movie. After that, the series shows Rocky in various stages of his career as a Boxer and also his relationship with his son and wife.
All the movies are good, with the exception of Rocky V.
Rating - 9/10.

2. Raging Bull - Jake LaMotta is seen practicing his stand up routine and then flashes back to his boxing career. His colorful and controversial career as a boxer is well shown. He becomes jealous of his wife and suspects her of adultery with his brother. He breaks all ties with his brother and retires from Boxing. He becomes a stand up comic and a night club owner. He is then arrested. He is released and he tries to mend his relationship with his brother.
This movie was really boring in parts. But if there ever was a movie that was carried on the shoulders by an actor, it was then. Robert De Niro carries this movie on his shoulders and his performance is brilliant. The fighting scenes are really well choreographed and certainly more realistic than in Rocky.
Rating - 8.5/10

3. Cindrella Man - Russell Crowe as James.J.Braddock is absolutely superb. This movie is about a man who fights his own inner demons, poverty thanks to the the great depression and then the opponent. He then gets a shot at the World Championship and his victory gives a lot of hope to the people of America, struggling with The Great Depression.
Very good acting and equally good narration.
Rating - 8.5/10

4. Lagaan - The year is 1893. Champaner. The Britishers ask for double tax and the only way to get them to remove it is by playing a cricket match. The basic plot of a movie which was nominated for the Oscars in the best movie in a foreign language. Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowariler along with some brilliant music by A.R.Rehman make this one of the best films to come out of this part of the world. Good Ensemble acting, good cinematography and a really gripping cricket match make for compelling viewing.
Drawbacks - A really long film - 3hr 42min.
Rating - 8/10

5. Million Dollar Baby - Hilary Swank deservedly won the best actor female award. This movie was painful to watch at times, but Clint Eastwood deserves all the acclaim he got. He shows the pain and Morgan Freeman is absolutely superb. A very tragic ending of the movie.
Rating - 7.5/10


The movies that missed out in this list are Jo Jeetha Wohi Sikander (I have not seen the original of the movie, but heard that JJWS is even better than the original), Seabiscuit, Remember the Titans, Chariots of Fire, Iqbal, Hip Hip Hurray and many more.

THE WORST
1. Awwal Number - Dev Anand's attempt at cashing in on the popularity of Aamir Khan and cricket. We have a hero cricketer, Aamir Khan aptly called Sunny. And a villain cricketer Ronny. Sunny takes Ronny's place in the team and Ronny joins some terrorists, who want to blow up the ground. Dev Anand acts as the Commissioner of Police, out to stop the terrorists. And to add some dramatic angle Ronny is the adopted son of Dev Anand. Bad Acting, bad plot, bad direction
Rating - None...

2. Ed - This is Matt Le Blanc, known more famously for his role in the serial friends as Joey Tribbiani, attempt in movies. A Chimp is called to rescue the team because of its pitching abilities.
Rating - None...

3. Wimbledon - Wimbledon is one of my favorite sporting championships and was really anticipating this movie. But it really disappointed me. It is not all that bad, but this movie could have been about any other Tournament. The Wimbledon experience was not there at all. And Kirsten Dunst playing tennis was a joke. One can clearly make out that she is uncomfortable with the sport.
Rating - Not that bad, but really had nothing to do with Wimbledon. 4/10

4. Driven - This movie was about Racing. Sylvester Stallone plays an aged, retired driver who is called back to train rookie driver. The plot of the movie is completely lost and the characters are not really allowed to develop. One good scene - A street race with the racing car in the night. Nothing else.
Rating - Bad...

5. Baseketball - The South Park duo of Trey Parker and Matt Stone come with this movie. Its about an underdog game. The duo invent this game, start a league and become legends in the game. The problem with the movie - bad jokes, attempts at spoofs of sports movie fails and bad acting.
Rating - Bad...

Sports is great leveler. You maybe on top one day, but down another. Sports teach you team spirit, develop killer instinct, teaches to fight against the odds. And sports movies should try to show these aspects about sports..
Put in your lists too..

Manu visits MANU..

Imagine
- A beautiful glass building on the outside.
- Close to 76000 seats all painted in red.
- Sitting in the dressing room of the players
- Enjoying the comforts of the VIP room
- Almost getting onto the football pitch
- Sitting in the manager's chair

Well I just didn't imagine these things. I have experienced them.

I remember the first time I watched a football match with a lot of interest. It was way back in 1997 and ESPN had just come into India (thank god for that). It featured a team playing in red with Sharp Electronics being their shirt sponsor and being mesmerized by the way they played. It was then that I decided to follow the game and to support this club. I came to know that the club was called Manchester United aka ManU.

Ever since that time, I have desired to set my feet onto that ground. During the mid 90's, I was quite a slim, skinny chap who was into playing sports big time. I had attended coaching classes in cricket, tennis and played hockey and football at a decent level. I could run pretty quickly as well. And had made a good impression in Volleyball and Basketball at school. Now, do not ask me where that skinny boy went as I don't know myself.

The story is that, I had a dream of going to the Old Trafford stadium and enjoying there. And my dream was realized on the 29th of August 2007.
The first sight of the stadium leaves you in awe. The sheer magnitude and the opulence leaves you dumbstruck. The 'sea of red' inside is absolutely beautiful. The whole stadium tour and the museum visit cost me 10 pounds.(People knowing me, will know how I treat 10 pounds as [:)]). After the trip, I felt that it was a really wise investment.

They started the tour inside the stadium by making us sit in the Southern stand and I was shocked by the fact that the third tier in the stadium is as high as 160 feet. Thats almost 26times my height. And then, we proceeded to the away stand. FA rules state that the away club can get maximum of 3000 spectators. We then headed into the board directors rooms, the place that they occupy during the match. They certainly have the best seats and the most comfortable seats at that, in the house. We then headed into the players dressing room. The guide told us some strange superstitions players follow. Then into the playing area via the players tunnel. he then played a recorded piece of the crowd noise during the match and that certainly would get the players charged up. We then headed pitch side and had an opportunity to sit in the seats, Sir Alex Ferguson and the reserves sit in. We then headed into the Mega ManU store and did the only shopping, during the entire trip, there..

We then headed into the museum. It just showed me how much the club and its achievements are valued. The various trophies, big or small, that were won by the great team are displayed very proudly. A special section inside the museum has been assigned in memory of those who died in a terrible plane crash in the 1958 Munich disaster, that robbed United of 8 of its team.

After finishing the trip, I just did not feel like leaving the place. I had experienced a high that will be etched in my memory for ever. I felt like a pilgrim who completed his pilgrimage.

If people are wondering, why I have mentioned 'We' in my blog, it is because I was accompanied by Mr. Maurice aka Vagani aka Rahul.

The Pilgrimage was over and it was time to leave. And then I carried on with my journey..

PS - Other details of the trip, will be put in the next blog. Includes a special - Rahul gets drunk..

Some Pics
Row 1 - Left - The view outside my room. I could not believe what I had seen!! Right - Inside the stadium And the 'sea of red' behind me
Row 2 - Left - In between the great central defence. It was inside the players dressing room
Right - In the managers chair


Row 3 - Left - Being interviewed by sky sports
Right - I was on the holy turf


More Pics Later....

Funny things to hear while watching sports.........

How many of us have faced this - The Commentator is stating the obvious thing while commentating on the live action.
Eg - "That is the first half of the race (dramatic pause).... the second half is still there"

Or have made really silly mistakes - "Few inches on either side of the goalpost and it would have been a goal..."

Or an unintentional pun or double meaning joke - "The bowler's holding the batsman's willey"

I was watching the Indian team progress towards its epoch(had to advertise my fest somehow) making series win in England and the commentary warmed my heart. The commentary box was filled with as many as 5 international captains - Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Chappel, Naseer Hussain, Ravi Shastri and Graham Gooch. What this does is gives the indication of how differently the captain thought of a particular situation. My mind went back to the time when India after a disastrous world cup, had no takers for the Bangladesh tour. And me being a cricket lover had to endure a dull series with Raj TV's commentary.

The coverage of ESPN-Star Sports-Star Cricket has the right mixture of humour and content and makes viewing really enjoyable. No unnecessary glamour added. A hard fought Test cricket series had a wonderful commentary team backing it and many viewers in India enjoyed the coverage.

I just wrote the above 2 paragraphs to appreciate the quality of broadcast.

Now back to the original topic...
There are many more funny things that have been told by people while viewing their views on air. Some of my favorite commentators include Bill Lawry(for sheer enthusiasm - "Its all happening out there"), Navjot Singh Sidhu(for making Englishmen hide in shame -"If my aunt were a man, she would have been my uncle"), Kapil Dev(for really trying too hard to match Sidhu - "I the hope that there will be the 80 international cricketers in ICL" .... may I add, unintentional comedy) apart from the usual suspects.

I have the highest regard for Steve Slater and Chris Goodwin for making a sport like F1 a spectacle. They bring the right energy that is needed for coverage of a sport as fast as F1. The commentators covering the ESPN Star Sports coverage of the EPL are making football the most watched sport in India.

So basically to make a sport enjoyable while viewing needs to be backed by a commentary team that has not only content but also good sense of humor.

I know a blog wont change everything in this world but if anyone from Prasar Bharathi happens to read it all I can say is- please dont get some half rate Hindi commentator and take away the joy of viewing sports...

As I sign off, here are a few really funny moments....
1. There's a real international flavor to this World Cup.
2. If blood is thicker than water, it must also be thicker than a calendar or a small clock.
3. Ian Pearce... has limped off with what looks like a shoulder injury.
4. And here's Moses Kiptanui, the 19 year old Kenyan, who turned 20 a few weeks ago.
5. Neil Harvey, standing at leg slip with his legs wide apart, waiting for a tickle.

Till next time..... And BTW the pic was just for glamor's sake...

Wanted to be Infidel but.....

There are moments in life when you feel like cringing "Why me?". This just puts me back to a story that I heard in my school days about Arthur Ashe. Arthur Ashe was diagnosed with AIDS and was sure to die. A fan asked him "Why you?". So arthur Ashe replied -

There are close to a billion people who play Tennis just about 200 play professionally, I am one among them - "Why me?". There were about 50 Black people playing Tennis but only I won the Wimbledon - "Why me?". There were still million people in USA, but I captained them to Davis Cup - "Why me?". Now after all these moments, should i ask god "Why me?".

This story left a mark on me and has taught to be happy with what I have. I am not any religious leader, but I always tell people that the man up there has made a path for everyone, its just that we need to follow it and reach our goal.

So I overcome my disappointment of not being an Infidel by just remembering this story of one of the most amazing athletes the world has ever seen - Arthur Ashe.

Finally quoting form Rocky Balboa, which I felt was the best end to a fantastic series..
"You, me or nobody is goina hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody."...

12 Angry Men

"Life is in their hands, death is on their minds"

This is the tag line of one of the greatest movies ever made - 12 Angry Men. Directed by Sidney Lumet and produced by Henry Fonda is an absolute classic.
The movie was released in 1957 and has spawned many spin-offs and rip-offs. The beauty of the movie lies in the fact that the movie belongs to a genre called as the claustrophobic genre. Here the events of a movie are screened in a single room. It calls for masterful direction as the audience must be kept engaged and monotony must not set in. A movie that showcases this tension that grips all characters of a movie in one room - it is really compelling.
The movie starts with a judge instructing a jury of 12 members to come out with their verdict- guilty or not guilty. The decision must be unanimous in their decision. All 12 should agree to a verdict guilty or not guilty.
The setting after about 35 seconds shifts to the jury room. Its peak summer time and the fans are not working. This adds to the tension of the moment. Out of the 12, 11 of them are convinced that the boy is guilty of murdering his father. Only one sees reasonable doubt in it and votes not guilty. His job is to now convince the others about his view point.
Henry Fonda as the initial voter for not guilty has given an absolutely flawless performance. The highlight of the movie is his conversation with Lee.J.Cobb. My personal favorite role was played by Lee.J.Cobb. He plays a father, who has been estranged from his son and somehow sees his son in the accused.

The beauty of the film lies in its setting, and the combined performances of all the actors. Individual performance by actors usually over shadow the movie's script and other aspects but not this movie. The movie engages the audience thanks to the superb ensemble acting by the cast. The camera work and especially the screenplay deserves all the credit for making the movie it is.

I would say that, 12 Angry Men is the greatest film I have watched that has not won an Oscar award of any sort. It is a must watch

A Hindi rip-off called 'Ek Rukha Hua Faisla' directed by Basu Chatterjee was released in 1986. Here theatre personality K.K.Raina plays the role essayed by Henry Fonda and the irreplaceable Pankaj Kapur plays the character enacted by Lee.J.Cobb in the original. The rip-off has stuck to the original script and not added any typical Bollywood masala and hence is also good to watch.

I would give the movie 5 out of 5. For the sheer joy of ensemble acting, please watch 12 Angry Men...

Job Job Everywhere, not a job to pick...

Well, the placement season has started in college. By the way, this blog has nothing do with Sp-Ent, but it is just to tell you the fact that, in the last few weeks I have not had the time to do any of my favorite activities - like sports and entertainment.

The first day started with close to 900 guys writing TCS in our college. It was a pretty hectic day for all us PC's (not Power Corrupts). At the end of the day, I was really tired. Such an instance had never happened in my life before - I well asleep watching cricket. The way Wasim Jaffer and India batted on the 2nd day would have put anyone to sleep. But, I have the highest regard for test cricket and can watch an entire day of test cricket without company as well - I did that once, in Chinnaswamy stadium - India vs Australia, 2004.

Well leaving cricket aside, I did the test pretty well. There were people who were mugging the previous papers and could not help laugh at that. I could not stop laughing when the paper given to us was infact very similar to last years paper. Come on TCS, you could do better. Anyways got through the written test and was called for Interview. The interview happened the next day and was another tiring day for the PC's. Adi and me handled the mike (Pop Singer). Then it was my turn. It turned out to be the worst interview anybody applying for a job can give. Pathetic would be an under statement. Finally after all sorts of games to keep ourselves occupied, came my rejection. It was a strange feeling. Was dejected myself, but the despair turned into glee when I saw how happy people in my class were. They got placed and I would love to think that I did have a very minute hand in it..

After the disappointment of TCS, came the opposite of disappointment in IBM. The guys had changed their pattern and a lot of people seemed stunned. I somehow liked the new pattern, and did pretty well. I had to write an essay on the topic - "Cricket overshadows other sports in India". The number of people short-listed was really a downer. Only 61. The interview did not seem to be a grilling session as I had predicted, but turned out to be a very meaningful conversation between 2 senior personnel at IBM and some prospective employee. After the interviews, the results were announced, and yours truly was selected. It was even more memorable as Srijith also got in.

Another day passed as the PC and Infosys took 6 people from my class. I am counting the days till everyone in my class gets a job.

Perks of PC include - 1. Bitti Oota
2. Meeting HR's
3. People calling you Sir

Qualities of a good PC - 1. Must be able to shout 200 names at the top of his voice.
2. Should be able to serve hot Akki-Rotis and explain some North Indian company representatives what it is.
3. Be good at MS Excel
4. Run around
5. Lift benches, which seem to be 20kg's heavy.

I think, I possess some of the above mentioned qualities. Anyway, getting really sleepy.
I would like to end this blog by corrupting an immortal line uttered by the great Dr. Raj Kumar, in an immortal movie "Operation Diamond Racket" --

"Baby, I am getting sleep" - Dr. Raj Kumar..

Battleship Potemkin

Movies evolved over time just like any thing else on this earth. First, the era of the silent movies, followed by the era of black and white talkies. Then came the era of colour and now god knows what is next. We also have the animated series of movies and no body can predict what the next generation of movie goers will experience..

One of my area of interests is seeing old, really old movies that are often not shown on any public platform often. These are real classics and must be treated and preserved.

When a movie is made, it reflects the mood of the society at that time. Movies often heal the wounds of depressing times - Charlie Chaplin's finest efforts had come in the time of the Great Depression and the World Wars.
In India, during the early stages of our post-independence period, we saw movies like 'Do Bhiga Zameen', which was about a farmer and his struggle. It was at a time when India could not produce even a safety pin on its own. Then came movies like 'Naya Daur' that showed a new confident India in its stride. Then there were movies made by Manoj Kumar which were made with the slogan 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' as their basis. Then the Amitabh Bachchan era, during the emergency times, where an angry youth goes against the system and is not afraid to take revenge came into prominence. India became a very confident country in the later part of the 20th century and our movies reflected them.
What I am trying to say is, when one watches a movie, he or she should look at the movie in the broader perspective and not just criticize the movie based on the story or the acting or even location of filming. We must look at the time the movie was made and look at the mood of the times to actually judge a movie..

One of the finest movies ever made, in my opinion, is the movie 'The Battleship Potemkin'. It was released in the year 1925 and directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The movie is a glorified version of the naval uprising that took place on the battleship Potemkin during the Tsarist regime that took place in 1905. It was made at the time when Russia was at the start of their Communist rule and the movie just brought out the heroism of the soldiers very well. Its acting can be criticized, the technology used(or the lack of it) will make the modern day cine-goers cringe. The haunting background music makes this movie extremely special. This being a silent movie has dialogues appearing as title cards from time to time.

The movie is divided into 5 parts -
1. The Men and the maggots
2. Drama at the harbor
3. A dead man calls for justice
4. The Odessa Staircase
5. The Rendezvous with the squadron

The first part deals with the immediate cause for the uprising. The old meat that was infested with maggots. The seniors of the ship, representing the Tsars have no concern for the majority of the work-force on the ship. There is a part in the movie where the doctor, who inspects the meat, tells the soldiers that 'these are not worms on the meat, they will be cleaned if you yuse brine'. The soldiers offended by this revolt by not having the soup.
The second part - A group of offending soldiers are round up in the corner and a tarpaulin is thrown at them. Then the guards are asked to fire at them. When they are about to shoot, a man rises and asks the guards "to look at who they are shooting, their own brothers?". This starts of series of unfortunate events in the ship where the captain of the ship and most of the senior officers get killed.
The third part - Here the man who began the uprising (The man who stopped the massacre from happening) is killed. At this point the ship reaches Odessa in Ukraine, where the word has spread of the uprising. The dead man is kept at the harbor, where the people of Odessa gather and pay tributes to him.
The fourth part - This is the most famous part of the movie - The Odessa Step sequence. Here the people of Odessa who had gathered at the harbor, are shot by the Tsar guards. The steps are almost never-ending and this massacre is shown brilliantly. This event never occurred, but was included in the script just to show, how bad the Tsarist regime was. Towards the end of the sequence, the soldiers shoot a mother who is pushing a baby carriage. She falls to the ground, and as she dies she accidentally kicks the carriage away; it rolls down the steps alongside the frightened crowd.
The Fifth part- This shows the retaliation by the soldiers of the Battleship Potemkin.

I would give this movie 10 on 10. The beauty of the movie is that, despite the fact that there is no dialogue, you still get the message that the director is trying to tell.

Movies reflect the time in history that they were made in. Great Movies tell a great story about that time. Battleship Potemkin belongs to that category...

My first blog

This is my first blog. So what i am starting a blog for..
I use the words "WHY NOT?" a lot.
---- Can we have ice-cream - "WHY NOT?"
---- Can we have bitti oota - "WHY NOT?"
---- Can we watch a match - "WHY NOT?"
---- Can we go for some stupid quiz - "WHY NOT?"
---- Can i maintain a blog - "WHY NOT?"
So here it is. A blog that i will try to maintain.

Well the name of my blog is a tribute to the things i like the most - SPorts and ENTertainment. Few quizzers will automatically know what SPENT means.

I am trying to get the writer instincts in me going. But it seems to be waking up a bit slowly. When was the last time i wrote for the love of writing. School - to pass those awful classes by writing the worst of poetry and entertain my mates in class, or during those English classes where our teacher asked us to write some stuff and then make us read it out in class. Anyway - Past is Past and Present is good. My writer instincts seem to come back and if in case any of my school mates read this, please remember the poems i used to write were of the lowest quality of literature. But it still entertained you people i guess..

The other day i had to watch the movie Coolie No. 1 where an overweight Govinda (similarity between him and me exists only in our sizes) and an equally horrible looking Karisma Kapoor romanced and proclaimed their love to each other in the song - "Main to raste se jaa raha tha"

Here are the lyrics of the first paragraph
Main to raste se jaa raha tha
Main to bhel puri kha raha tha
Mian to Ladki ghuma raha tha

Raste se ja raha tha
Bhel puri kha raha tha
Ladki Ghuma raha tha

Teri Nani Mari tho Main Kya karoo
Teri Nani Mari tho Main Kya karoo

Which roughly translates to
I was walking on the street
I was eating Bhel Puri
I was going around with a girl
If your grand mother died what can i do..

Now is there any sense in this song. How is the death of grand mother even related to the brewing romance between the hero and the heroine. There is another movie with the same hero, heroine and the director. Whats more the movie is also similarly titled. It is called "Hero No.1". This movie was what i call "Rip-off from many places" - inspired by Mr. Bean, a wonderful Rajesh Khanna movie called Bawarchi and so on. Well my love for plagiarized stuff is somewhat unusual. I try to watch movies where i try to find out what part of this movie is taken from which movie of the west or TV series.

Now as a reverse i can very proudly say there are few instances when we have given movies which are taken into Hollywood, packaged better and then released. One such instance is Choti Si Baat, which was released in 1979, starring Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha, Asrani and Dadamoni Ashok Kumar. The story has a lot of similarities to Hitch, but Hitch is not a complete rip-off. Thats the difference..

Well so long till my next blog..