The biopic on former IPL (Indian Premier League) and Ranji Trophy player Pravin Tambe released this week titled Kaun Pravin Tambe? The special part about his story is that he made his IPL debut at the age of 41.
During this time, it would be interesting to know someone who made his debut at the age as advanced as 49 and that too at the international level. England’s James Southerton holds that record by making his test debut for England at that age. He remains the oldest test debutant in the history of test cricket.
Born on 16 November 1827 in Sussex, England, Southerton played as a batsman initially in the 1850s both for Sussex and Hampshire. During those days, it was allowed for one player to play for more than one county in one season. He later played for Surrey as well.
But in 1865, Southerton realized his great potential as a slow left-arm spin bowler. It was an era where there were mostly only fast or pace bowlers. This fact along with his ability to spin ball both ways and that too in an intelligent manner made him a headache for the batsmen.
James Southerton [Photo source: InShorts]
Southerton picked up loads of wickets at the first-class level. In 1868 while playing for Surrey and Sussex he became the leading wicket-taker with 151 wickets. Two seasons later, he became the first bowler to pick up 200 wickets in a season. He was a leading bowler from 1871 to 1875.
It is also believed that the legendary WG Grace also found it difficult to face Southerton’s bowling.
The following year, Southerton made history when he grabbed a place in England’s side that toured Australia in 1876 under the captaincy of James Lillywhite. He was 49 years and 119 days old when he played the first test of the series on 15 March 1877.
This was no ordinary test. It was the first ever test match in the history of the game. Hence, Southerton had two records on his name. Apart from being the oldest test debutant, he also got a chance to play the first ever international game of cricket.
It was a two-match series that went into unlimited days; it wasn’t confined to five days. And in those days, one over contained just 4 balls, instead of 6.
The England team of 1876. Southerton is seated second from the left [Photo source: Wikipedia]
Strangely, Southerton bowled in just two of the four innings in the series – in the first innings of the first match and the second innings of the second one. He picked up 3 for 61 on the first occasion and 4 for 46 in the second. It wasn’t that he was also selected for his batting abilities because he batted at number 11 in all four innings.
How someone who started off as a batsmen went onto bat at number 11 can also be an interesting story. He did score a couple of 50s at the first-class level.
This was the only test series Southerton played and understandably so considering his age. He last played at the county level cricket in 1879 before he announced retirement. Sadly, just 10 months after his retirement, he passed away on 16 June 1880 due to a pleurisy attack at the age of 52.
Of course, when Southerton made his test debut at 49, he wasn’t known as the oldest debutant because it was the very first match in the history of test cricket. But today, even after more than 145 years, he still retains that record.
And it looks like this is one record that won’t be broken.
Not many films receive the kind of enormous appreciation and humongous box office success like Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) did. The movie made filmmaker SS Rajamouli a celebrated name across India. Such adulation is generally received only for star actors.
No doubt Rajamouli would have cherished such success. However, not many would have preferred to be in his shoes considering the huge expectations from his next. But despite such pressure and scrutiny, Rajamouli has not only made a film on a similar scale and even a higher budget but has also succeeding in hitting the bullseye yet again.
With RRR (Roudram Ranam Radhiram), he has given a masala entertainer worth celebrating.
RRR is fictional story featuring the real-life freedom fighters Alluri Seetarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. In the film, they are known as Ram (Ram Charan) and Bheem (Jr NTR). The story starts when a British family forcibly takes away a tribal girl with them after they are impressed with her singing and painting skills, despite her parents pleading and begging. Bheem, who hails from the same tribal community, is sent to Delhi to rescue the girl.
On the other hand, Ram (Ram Charan) works as a loyal cop in the British force. He is given the task of hunting down Bheem. They come across each other under unusual circumstances and become thick friends. Ram doesn’t reveal that he works for the British while Bheem also hides his identity. Bheem gets a shock when Ram betrays the friendship and arrests him for rebellion against the British government.
Ram Charan and Jr NTR in RRR
Three action sequences alone in the film are enough for your visit to the theatres – When Ram and Bheem meet for the first time, the long action sequence before the interval and the climatic war.
However, RRR provides much more than these paisa vasool moments. The story of the little girl, Ram and Bheem’s camaraderie, reunion and the climax are narrated through a screenplay that is fast as well as smooth by writer K Vijayendra Prasad (Rajamouli’s father).
On top of that, Rajamouli, as per his habit, has presented even the simplest of scenes as a visual treat; full of grandeur and style. His handling goes few notches higher while dealing with the aforementioned action sequences. The filmmaker has shown yet again that even a mass-pleasing masala entertainer can be presented in an artistic way.
He did the same in both Baahubali films and the result was such that even those who generally don’t prefer masala movies appreciated the films. Don’t be surprised if the same happens with RRR.
The technical aspects (cinematography, editing and background score) also play a major role in the film achieving high marks. There wasn’t much buzz about the music before the film’s release, at least for the Hindi version. But RRR’s songs suit the narrative and are pleasing to the ears too. The track ‘Nacho Nacho’ and the situation when it comes provides an electrifying effect.
After witnessing Ram Charan and Jr NTR’s chemistry, it is difficult to judge their performances individually. The two actors excel while displaying emotions and also during the wild action sequences. The writing and direction has given absolutely equal importance to both the characters.
Olivia Morris, as the British girl Jenni, becomes memorable despite the screen time. Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt do well in cameos. The child actress playing Malli impresses in a difficult role. The film doesn’t have much scope to the rest of the supporting cast.
Coming to the drawbacks, RRR’s pace dips a bit till sometime in the second half. The film also has the usual flaws when it comes to masala films where the focus is more on entertainment and less on logic.
But these issues don’t bother much after witnessing the exhilarating climax where the character of Ram actually fights while being Lord Ram.
Overall: RRR is an artistically made masala entertainer. The film needs to earn a huge amount at the box office in order to be called a blockbuster. It’s difficult to predict right now whether that will happen but the film surely stands a chance of becoming a hit.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Director: SS Rajamouli
Producers: DVV Entertainment
Writers: KV Vijayendra Prasad and SS Rajamouli
Cast: Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Olivia Morris, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt (the last two in cameos)
The world lost one of the game’s greatest when Shane Warne untimely passed away earlier this month due to a heart-attack at the age of just 52. He was a legendary leg-spinner who continued to astonish with his sheer skills of getting batsmen out, including behind their legs, throughout his career.
Warne picked up a huge number of 708 wickets in test cricket and 293 in one-day internationals. He took a 5-wicket haul as many as 37 times in tests.
But Warne was also handy with the bat. At times, more than handy when the Aussie batting line-up struggled. One such incredible knock of his came against New Zealand in December 2001 in the 3rd and the last test of the series.
The first two tests in Gabba and Hobart turned into draws, so the winner of the 3rd match would have taken away the series.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. Thanks to the three centuries from Lou Vincent, Stephen Flaming and Nathan Astle, they declared at a large score of 534 for 9. Australia didn’t have a good start and they kept losing wickets. Warne entered the scene when they were in trouble at 192 for 6 and unsure whether they would avoid the follow-on.
He had a good counter-attacking partnership with Damien Martyn but the latter got out on 60 when the score was 270 for 7. Warne continued playing attacking shots. But when he reached 80 odd, Australia had lost 9 wickets with Jason Gillespie out with the score on 346 for 9.
With Australia’s famous number 11 batsman Glenn McGrath for company, Warne took two 2’s off Shane Bond’s bowling when he was on 94, which took him to 98. He took a single off the last ball of the over and reached 99. Interestingly, Warne had scored an impressive 70 in the previous test at Hobart in the first innings.
New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, who was just in his early 20s back then, bowled to Warne when he was on 99. Maybe in a hurry to reach the three-figure milestone, Warne slogged Vettori on the second ball of the over. It still wasn’t a completely bad shot because mid-on and midwicket fielders were inside the circle.
However, he got a top-edge and the ball went high up in the air. Mark Richardson, fielding at deep square-leg, took a difficult catch. Warne was out on 99! Obviously, he was dejected and so was the enthusiastic crowd at the WACA.
But the story doesn’t end here. Later on, it was found that the ball on which Warne got out on 99 was a no-ball. Vettori had clearly overstepped, which is visible in the picture below. Warne’s disappointment increased further. If the umpire had spotted the no-ball, he would have crossed to the other end and that would have been his 100.
Vettori’s a no-ball
In just September last year, Warne was the guest on the funny cricket show ‘The Professor and Barney’ on Fox Sports where he relived those moments in a humorous way. During the course of the discussion while speaking about the no-ball not given, he said,
“Gimme a 100!”
Watch from 1:10 onwards to hear Shane Warne speak about his dismissal on 99
The genocide of Kashmiri Pandits is one of the darkest chapters in Indian history. Yet, not much has been spoken about it over the decades. We have had only two Hindi films made on the issue before this week – Ashoke Pandit’s Sheen (2004) and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Shikara (2020). We now have the third one in the form of filmmaker Vivek Rankan Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files.
How exactly the film plays out will be discussed later. But broadly speaking, it succeeds in its basic aim of making you feel for the incident and the Pandits.
The Kashmir Files narrates two parallel stories. One is based in 1990 when terrorists headlined by Farooq Abdul Bitta (Chinmay Mandlekar) create havoc in the lives of Kashmiri Pandits. They are given an option to convert to Islam, run for their lives or die. One such family is that of Pushkar Nath Pandit (Anupam Kher), his son, daughter-in-law (Bhasha Sumbli) and two grandsons.
The other track is based in today’s times and it revolves around Krishna Pandit (Darshan Kumaar), the grandson of Pushkar. He studies in ANU in Delhi and is a part of a radical group of students who don’t believe the enormity of the Kashmiri Pandit genocide and demand a separate Kashmir. The group is captained by their professor Radhika Menon (Pallavi Joshi).
Pushkar returns to Kashmir after his grandfather’s death to distribute his remains. Once there, he gets to know the seriousness of the Kashmiri Pandit issue and his views about the whole affair go through a change.
The Kashmir Files leaves no stone unturned when it comes to showing the gruesomeness of the whole incident. We see disturbing visuals of people being shot point blank, cut vertically through a wood-cutting machine, a woman forced to consume rice mixed with her murdered husband’s blood, etc. These visuals, obviously, are disturbing but a majority of times they work for bringing to light the horrific crimes against innocents.
Splitting the narrative into two time zones is a smart idea. One does feel a bit confused on few occasions but things fall into place, especially by the time the film ends.
The camerawork and colour grading suit the subject perfectly. This subject doesn’t deserve vibrant visuals of the valley, as is seen from various happy Hindi film songs shot here in the past.
This is the meatiest role Darshan Kumaar has ever got to play and he grabs the opportunity with both hands. He shines the most during his monologue. Chinmay Mandlekar is the best of all, not just when it comes to expressions and body language but also the diction. It’s difficult to believe that just last month we saw the same person play Shivaji Maharaj in the Marathi movie Pawankhind.
Pallavi Joshi in The Kashmir Files
Pallavi Joshi is excellent as the radical professor. It is a surprise why we don’t see her more often. Mithun Chakraborty, as the helpless IAS officer, succeeds in moving you. Atul Srivastav and Puneet Issar chip in with good support. Bhasha Sumbli is the surprise element.
However, Anupam Kher doesn’t live up to the expectations as he goes in the over-the-top zone on quite a few occasions. This comes as a rude surprise.
The Kashmir Files would have been much more impactful but for few issues. The runtime of 170 minutes is very high. There are a number of periods where the pace slows down and the narrative almost becomes like a docu-drama. The film needed to be much crisper. Although Darshan Kumaar acts well, the way his character keeps changing sides is not convincing and too convenient.
But what hurts the film the most is the more than in-your-face propaganda when it comes to the portrayal of JNU [the censors made them change it to ANU]. The university is vilified as a hub whose only aim is to harm the nation, especially through the character of Pallavi Joshi.
At one point, this aspect becomes so strong that it somewhat reduces the impact created about the sorry tale of Kashmiri Pandits. In other words, this eagerness to paint the entire institute in a particular way affects the very issue the film eagerly wants to raise, although for some time.
Overall: The Kashmir Files creates an impact despite the hiccups. The film is expected to gain surprisingly positive box office collections because of the high amount of buzz. Plus, the film’s budget is only Rs 14 crore.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Director: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri
Writer: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri
Producers: Tej Narayan Agarwal, Abhishek Agarwal, Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri
Sir Geoffrey Boycott is easily one of the best test batsmen the cricketing world has seen. He played over 100 test matches for England and scored as many as 22 hundreds with an average close to 50. And this came at a time when batting was much tougher in the longest format of the game.
Geoffrey Boycott retired from international cricket in 1982 but that didn’t end his fame. As a commentator, in the coming years, he gained supreme popularity for his no-holds-barred and bold views behind the microphone. This resulted in him gaining fans from people who were born even after he stopped playing cricket, including me.
As per his true nature, Geoffrey Boycott had the habit of rubbishing off any player he didn’t like or felt wasn’t worthy enough to play international cricket. One such cricketer who became his target was India’s 20-year-old wicket-keeper batsman Ajay Ratra in the fourth test against the West Indies at Antigua during the 2002 tour.
It was Ratra’s debut series and he wasn’t able to show any magic from his bat before that match. Deep Dasgupta played the role of the wicket-keeper in the first test. But he was replaced by Ratra from the second test onwards in the five match series. In his first two tests [2nd and 3rd test of the series], he had scores of under 20 with one 0.
Geoffrey Boycott and Ajay Ratra [Photos: Boycott and Ratra’s Twitter pages]
But Ratra was still included in the playing 11 in the fourth test. He came into bat in the first innings when India were 257 for 6. As soon as he faced a few balls and wasn’t able to play them with confidence, Geoffrey Boycott started criticizing him with his famous line being, “I don’t think he can bat.”
This started a fun banter in the commentary box between him and Ravi Shastri, who subtly took Ratra’s side. When Shastri said he is a good batsman, Boycott came up with a vow saying that he will chew his hat if Ratra scores a hundred.
I didn’t think much of that at that time because I could see Ratra was struggling and I didn’t have much hopes from him. But somehow, he stood his ground and started playing with some confidence. After a while, he even reached his fifty. Now, I did start thinking about Boycott’s vow. The also led to some fun in the commentary box.
Ratra finished the day on 92 not out.
In an interview with former cricketer and YouTuber Padamjeet Sehrawat in 2020, Ratra said that he wasn’t aware at all about what transpired in the commentators’ box that day. After the day’s play, Shastri told Ratra to please score the remaining 8 runs and that it would be great fun in the commentary box if he did so.
The next day, after some anxiety-driven moments when he was on 99, Ratra finally reached the three-figure mark through a boundary down to the fine leg area. He was, obviously, overjoyed and so was Shastri. He then came up with his remark that I still remember, “The man who can’t bat is batting on 100.”
Ratra’s century had an even more importance. He became the first Indian specialized wicket-keeper to score a test century overseas. The yesteryear icon Vijay Manjrekar did score a 100 against West Indies in West Indies in 1953 while keeping wickets, but he wasn’t a specialized wicket-keeper.
There were more records broken in the match. It was the first test match ever where wicket-keepers from both the teams scored centuries after WI’s Ridley Jacobs also scored one. Other than these records, the match was a boring draw.
Coming back to Ratra’s century, Geoffrey Boycott had to keep his word. I remember he showed some great sportsmanship and did chew his hat once after the day’s play while criticizing the West Indian bowlers. Shastri made the occasion livelier by bringing a glass of wine.
Of course, it was all in good humour.
P.S: I was reminded of this incident at the end of last year while watching Kabir Khan’s 83. The film highlighted an incident where an English journalist had to literally eat his own words after team India proved him wrong by winning the 1983 World Cup.
Based on authors S Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borge’s Mafia Queens Of Mumbai, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi is the story of a girl named Ganga (Alia Bhatt) forced into becoming a sex worker and how she rises up the ranks to be the madam of a brothel and a messiah for the sex workers from the Kamathipura area of Mumbai (then Bombay).
Rarely do you come across a feature film whose story can be summarized in a short and simple manner. However, the film isn’t as simple as the aforementioned synopsis. It has a deep and layered storyline presented on Bhansali’s larger-than-life and vibrant canvas.
The story of how Ganga becomes Gangubai might not be pleasant in the first half but the filmmaker succeeds in keeping the narrative entertaining with some creative visuals and impressive dialogues. This doesn’t mean that he has compromised in exploring the depth of a helpless woman forced into flesh trade. Despite the entertainment, you surely feel for the protagonist and the rest of the girls.
Like the director’s previous works, the sets and production designing are grand and larger-than-life. It brings alive the Bombay of the yesteryears and at the same time does justice to the dark world of the sex workers.
Mainstream Hindi films are often guilty of going downhill or losing grip in the second half. But Gangubai Kathiawadi rises further in the post-interval portion once Gangubai acquires more power and spreads her clout.
It is during this portion that the protagonist gets to mouth some of the most powerful dialogues that are generally mouthed by male stars. But they create such an impact also because of Alia Bhatt’s rousing talent.
To say that the actress is in great form would be an understatement. If she compelled us to notice her talent in films like Highway (2014), Udta Punjab (2016), Raazi (2017) and Gully Boy (2019), she now announces herself as one of the most talented artistes in India. Her journey from the meek Ganga to the powerful Gangubai is as natural as it can be.
The film is also laced with some talented supporting cast; some who are relatively new. Indira Tiwari, as the fellow sex worker and Gangu’s right hand, succeeds in displaying her natural talent in a challenging role. Shantanu Maheshwari, as Gangu’s love interest, doesn’t let the tag of a newcomer bother his performance. In the role of a transgender Raziabai, Vijay Raaz is terrific. Ajay Devgn provides a mature act as Rahim Lala in an extended cameo.
Gangubai Kathiawadi also has some experienced names who are memorable despite the limited screen time. Some of them include, Jim Sarbh, Seema Pahwa, Chhaya Kadam, Lata S Singh, Mitali Jagtap Varadkar and Rahul Vohra.
Bhansali’s films are always high on music and Gangubai Kathiawadi is no exception. Songs like ‘Dholida’, ‘Meri Jaan’, ‘Shikayat’ and ‘Jab Saiyaan’ show us what is missing in the current era of remixes. The filmmaker himself has composed the music.
Bhansali’s films of the past have also become victim of his over-indulgence. In other words, his style and grandeur overpower the storytelling aspect, which ensures that the end result isn’t much satisfying, despite the visuals. But the filmmaker has avoided that over here. There is a lack of conflict in the key portions but the presentation of a sex worker as a hero wins you over and forces you ask a lot of questions to the ‘normal’ and ‘respected’ society.
The only problem area here is that Gangu’s initial rise to power in the pre-interval portion should have been more elaborate. It almost happens suddenly. It would have also helped the cause of the film more if the advancement of Gangubai’s age would have been visible. Instead, she appears almost the same even 15 years after the story begins.
Overall:Gangubai Kathiawadi is thought-provoking and entertaining at the same time with a career-best act by Alia Bhatt. The film can be best enjoyed on the big screen because of its visuals. Don’t wait for it to come on OTT [Netflix].
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Producers: Jayantilal Gada and Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Writers: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Utkarshini Vashishtha and Prakash Kapadia
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Indira Tiwari, Shantanu Maheshwari, Seema Pahwa, Jim Sarbh, Vijay Raaz, Ajay Devgn
Gehraiyaan is getting a mixed response, as expected from a film of such a complex nature. I loved it for various reasons, including the narrative that transforms from a story of cheating to an emotional drama and finally a crime thriller. But this isn’t a review of the film.
Gehraiyaan made me think a lot. One thing that stayed on my mind the most was one selfish character. In fact, I feel this is one of the most selfish characters I have seen in a long time. I also felt that if we look at the story from his perspective, it can be an interesting experiment. After finishing the piece, I realized this is how dark and negative characters appear in James Hadley Chase’s novels.
Being an ardent fan of his crime books since more than a decade, I guess my subconscious wrote the article in this way.
This blog article about Gehraiyaan is a tribute to the great late storyteller, although it didn’t start out that way.
There are SPOILERS ahead. If you haven’t seen Gehraiyaan, please don’t read further.
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I have imagined the following piece on how Zain would narrate his life story from Gehraiyaan from his perspective in James Hadley Chase style:-
Right now, I am drenched in salty water. I am lying submerged in the great Arabian Sea; probably living the last couple of minutes of my life. I don’t know if I have landed here due to my cruel selfishness or that damned wine bottle. I have heard people say that when your end is near, your whole life plays out in your mind. I am experiencing that right now.
I feel my childhood wasn’t much different than my condition right now. That’s what I felt growing up with a father who was a wife beater. After not being able to take it more, I left home.
Book cover courtesy: Swiftlytiltingplanet.wordpress.com
We were always a part of the lower middle-class. So, I was eager to make it big in terms of wealth. I thought of going into real estate, which is considered the money-minting field. I became an assistant to the big shark in the business and slowly rose up the ranks. I made it big and I made it quick. I now had everything I dreamt of – a big house, car and also a private yatch.
To make my life complete, destiny got me introduced to the pretty Tia, the daughter of the real estate shark I was assistant to. We were drawn to each other in no time and got engaged. I also need to mention that my to-be in laws had also invested heavily in my personal real estate business. I didn’t care about this as me and Tia were looking ahead to get married. Until I had a chance encounter with the gorgeous Alisha, cousin of Tia, during our Alibaug holiday.
It is said that once you start chasing pleasures, of all kinds, there is no full stop. One never feels satisfied and that’s exactly what happened with me. I was living a luxurious life but I wanted more. I was engaged and Alisha was in a six-year old relationship with her boyfriend Karan. But I couldn’t take my eyes off her when I was first introduced to her. In fact, I took no time to flirt with her.
Alisha was going through a troubled time in her relationship with Karan, whose career as a novelist was just not taking off. Alisha, on the other hand, was also struggling to launch her Yoga app. In other words, there couldn’t be a better opportunity for me! I latched onto the situation.
Alisha started responding to my flirtatious messages. One day she also lied about my message to her cousin. I took advantage of my back pain to get it cured by Alisha’s Yoga techniques in order to get close to her. From here on, it was just a matter of time before we ended up in bed… repeatedly!
Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi in Gehraiyaan
Alisha was going through a bad patch with Karan. But my relationship with Tia was fine. So what was I doing in bed with another woman? Well, I didn’t think of that. I was getting it, so I took it. Simple!
I also got the crucial funding for Alisha’s Yoga app through my business with my to-be in laws. I also got her a posh studio. She felt I was doing it as a favor but I wasn’t. I actually did it through dubious means and that too in a way that it would benefit me in the end. Of course, she didn’t know this.
Alisha’s situation with Karan worsened to such a level that she broke up with him. Now my temptation had no limits. Meanwhile, Alisha also got pregnant with my child. I now wanted her in my life… forever. To hell with Tia. So what if her parents had invested in my business? I decided to return all the investment and call it quits. It was just a matter of time now, or so I thought.
But till the time I become capable to repay them, I had to pretend to be in a relationship with Tia. This also meant celebrating my third anniversary with her, although in my mind I had already broken up. Yes, I was fooling her into believing that I was still in love with her and wanted to marry her. Whereas, all I was waiting was to just throw her out of my life and her parents out of my business.
But an unannounced storm came into my life. Rather, it came in someone else’s life but it affected me greatly. A man we did business and had stakes with got arrested for financial fraud. The case kept getting murkier by the day and it reached a stage where I could have got into trouble. If this wasn’t enough, my bluff about Alisha’s studio was out too as the municipality realized it was bought by crook. I tried to control Alisha to cover my lies about her studio.
(Article continued after the video)
But she was getting impatient. She also wanted full and open commitment. But I had to continue my sham affair with Tia for my benefit. I needed her to sell her beach house to get me out of trouble but I lied to her that we need to keep it for mortgage for a year. When she doubted my intentions, I pretended to be a victim and regained her sympathy and love. The fake hugs and kisses continued. Poor thing had no idea how she was being used by me materially and emotionally; by a man who no longer loved her. In fact, she felt guilty when, actually, she was the victim.
Alisha, on the other hand, was now really getting out of control. She landed up at my office and later outside Tia’s place and threatened to expose our secret relationship. I somehow controlled her and gained her sympathy. I succeeded in taking her to a date on my yatch in the sea… Where it all began.
The date was a sham too. In reality, I wanted to get rid of her. I mixed a large dose of her sleeping pills in her wine without her knowledge; at least this is what I thought. But she refused to drink. I now feel she knew my cruel intentions. I tried to strangulate her and throw her into the sea for good. But she got the better of me and I slipped over that wine bottle and got thrown into the sea instead.
I don’t know if I have landed here due to my cruel selfishness or that damned wine bottle.
India’s Under-19 team winning the 2022 World Cup has rejoiced cricket fans across the nation. With the fifth world title under their belt, they have ruled this tournament. But this victory, under the captaincy of Yash Dhull, has brought back memories of India’s Under-15 World Cup victory many years ago in 1996. Yes, there was an U-15 tournament in that year and it was never tried again.
India won the cup by defeating arch rivals Pakistan at the historic Lords cricket stadium. Both the teams were unbeaten before the final.
It was the year I started watching and keenly following cricket. Hence, I didn’t know much about the game. I wasn’t knowing that countries also participate at the junior levels in World Cups.
I had no idea that such a tournament was being played that year. I just switched on the TV and realized that some cricket match is being played in England. The commentators were referring to it as the ‘World Cup’, which confused me since the World Cup had already taken place that year in February and March in Asia.
I later realized that this is an Under-15 team and that a tournament like Under-15 World Cup even exists. After I came to know that India and Pakistan have reached the finals, I, obviously, followed the match in all excitement. After all, this was the first time I was watching a big final at Lords.
I saw a teenaged sardar guy bowling his heart out in the match as India opted to bowl first. I came to know his name is Reetinder Singh Sodhi. I was impressed with his determination and fiery attitude at such a young age. He played a major role in restricting Pakistan to 222 for 7 with figures of 3 for 34 in his allotted overs.
Photo courtesy: CricketCountry.com and Lords official Facebook page
The Under-15 provided an old world charm in terms of the number of overs. The matches comprised of 55 overs. ODIs were reduced to 50 overs a side in 1985, except for the matches played in England. It was in 1995 that England also adopted the 50 overs’ version. So it was a surprise to see the U-15 World Cup having 55 overs a side in 1996.
In reply, India were in trouble early on as they lost 2 wickets with just 19 on the board. But it was Sodhi again to the rescue; this time with the bat as he scored 82 not out. He was ably supported by the wicketkeeper-batsmen Pradeep Chawla who scored 34. Bhavan Chander also scored a useful 27.
But India were reduced at one stage for 178 for 6. Sodhi, however, guided the team to victory along with the number 8 batsman Vivek Mahajan, who played a crucial innings of 19 not out. India won by 4 wickets with 14 balls to spare. I somewhat remember the well-timed powerful shots by Sodhi.
This was the first time I saw India win a world title; so what if it was U-15? To see an Indian captain lift the cup on the Lords balcony, just like some of the greats of the games in the past including Kapil Dev in 1983, filled me with pride.
Surprisingly, there’s just one proper scorecard available of the match on Cricinfo [see HERE]. Strangely, it doesn’t list the number of balls played by each batsmen and the number of boundaries they hit! Not surprisingly, there’s no video footage of the match available on YouTube either.
India’s Under-15 team [Photo courtesy: CricketCountry.com]
But a report of the match by Christopher Martin-Jenkins with the same portal states that the fans of both the countries created ruckus and violence, which also injured few of them. There was an unprecedented crowd of over 8000 people, which the organizers weren’t expecting. Read more about it HERE. To hear from the team of the 1996 Uder-15 World Cup, click HERE.
Apart from Sodhi, the other player that went onto play for India’s senior side was Mohammad Kaif. Interestingly, he became the hero at the same venue six years later in the famous Natwest Series Final against England, along with Yuvraj Singh.
For Pakistan, there were seven players that represented the senior’s national side later – Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat, Taufeeq Umar, Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal and Bazid Khan.
But this isn’t the only World Cup Final achievement for Sodhi. Four years later, he went onto win the Under-19 World Cup for India against Sri Lanka and was awarded the Man of the Match again for his unbeaten 39 and giving away only 26 runs off his 10 overs. This time, Kaif was the captain while the team also had Yuvraj Singh, who was adjudged the Man of the Series.
It's a great feeling when your Chacha's Son do what you did 22 years back..So Man of the Match of two World Cup Finals in one family ??? #Under19WorldCuppic.twitter.com/H3gMhvlHa3
Interestingly, Raj Bawa, who picked up 5 wickets against England in the U-19 final yesterday and was adjudged the Man of the Match, is Sodhi’s uncle’s [chacha] son. Congratulating him, Sodhi tweeted, “It’s a great feeling when your Chacha’s Son do what you did 22 years back..So Man of the Match of two World Cup Finals in one family.” [sic]
I guess Sodhi didn’t count his own Man of the Match award in the 1996 Under-15 World Cup final. Hence, there are not two but three World Cup Final Man of the Match awards in the Sodhi family.
After watching Kabir Khan’s 83 and being mighty impressed with it, I felt there should be a sequel to the film based on India’s test series victory in Australia in the 2020-21 tour. But 83’s box office performance clearly indicated that a second film in the series is practically impossible. But Sony Sports’ documentary on the same series Down Underdogs: India’s GreaTEST Comeback has fulfilled my wish.
Despite it being a documentary, for cricket lovers this is nothing short of a well-made cricket feature film that makes you go through various emotions while celebrating India’s greatest test cricket win overseas.
Choosing this test series as a subject is a fair amount of job already done. It has all the ingredients of a Bollywood movie script, although it’s not fiction.
There is an embarrassing downfall right at the start as India gets all out for a paltry 36 in the first test at Adelaide. One can just imagine the team’s morale at this point when the whole world spoke about it while the Australian media made merry.
Before the decider fourth test, almost an entire team gets injured [captain Virat Kohli is already gone home after the first test]. The acting captain Ajinkya Rahane has to settle with whoever is available in the team! Debutant Mohammed Siraj’s father passes away during the series and he has to play with a heavy heart. Then we have ‘villains’ in the form of Tim Paine with his taunts, the Australian media and the racial abuse by few Australian spectators.
Isn’t this right out of a Bollywood potboiler? And like most of the dramatic movies, we get a tease of the ending part at the start in Down Underdogs as well and then the film then goes into the flashback mode.
Any sort of comeback in the series after being 36 all out would have been heroic but India did much more than that. What makes the experience even memorable is director Wrik Ganguly’s narrative and presentation of the series in the four-episodic documentary.
There is no anchor presiding over in the background. The series is narrated by a long list of cricket experts – Sunil Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogale, Sanjay Manjrekar, Mohammed Siraj, Hanuma Vihari, Michael Clarke, Isa Guha, Nick Knight, Gaurav Kapur, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vivek Razdan, Ayaz Memon, Joy Bhattacharya etc – whose bytes are used in a simple manner that provides a smooth narrative.
Source: YouTube screenshot
A lot of these people are cricket commentators but what they speak in the film is not what they generally do in the commentary box during the matches. The conversation is more fruitful, insightful and exclusive to the film.
It is also noticeable how an atmosphere is created before every match or an important event through the visuals, especially of the particular city where the match is being played. In other words, you just forget that you are watching a documentary.
Down Underdogs ends in an overwhelming and exciting manner when Rishabh Pant hits the winning runs in the fourth test at Gabba, Brisbane. That moment and the scenes that follow provide as much satisfaction as the final moments from feature films like MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and 83.
Kabir Khan’s 83 is one of the rare films to get such high number of glowing reviews from critics. Not just that, the Ranveer Singh-starrer cricket drama has also received equal praise from the audience. The film transformed a cinema hall into a stadium through its overwhelming recreation of India’s 1983 World Cup triumph.
However, this hasn’t been enough to translate into box office success for the film. In fact, to put it simply, 83 has been a box office failure. The film is made at a budget around Rs 200 crore (one senior journalist even claimed it to be Rs 270 crore) and right now it’s struggling to even reach Rs 100 crore.
So, talking purely in terms of business, 83 is nothing but a failure. I know a lot of people who loved the film are hurt by this. I can completely understand because I too am such a big fan of the film that I have seen it twice already in theatres and I am willing to watch it again. But, as said before, this is purely in terms of business.
With so many people left disappointed and disheartened by 83’s result at the box office, it is obvious that this has become a hot topic of discussion and debates online. I have been constantly reading some silly reasons being dished out on social media for the film not working out. And, unfortunately, such reasons are also being heard from few people who are from film journalism itself.
Here’s what has been attributed to 83’s downfall at the box office on social media:
People are staying away from theatres because of the rise in COVID-19 cases and the new threat of its Omicron variant
While there is no doubt that the fear of COVID-19 has resurfaced, this cannot be the reason why 83 didn’t get as much audience. The biggest proof of this is the stupendous box office performance of the Hindi version of the Telugu film Pushpa. The movie released on 17 December 2021, a week before 83, and is still doing well even as I am writing this on 8 January 2022.
Photo courtesy: Cinestaan.com
The same is the case for Spider-Man: No Way Home which released in the same week as Pushpa. If people are not visiting theatres to watch 83, how are these two films still getting audience? In fact, a lot of shows given to 83 earlier are now given to Pushpa since the film is continuing to attract moviegoers.
People are now used to watching content on OTT platforms and hence don’t feel like visiting theatres
The answer to this point can be found in the previous one. OTT has definitely found a great booster in the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean people are not willing to go to theatres. Again, if that was the reason, Pushpa and Spider-Man wouldn’t have done such enormous business. Not to forget, Sooryavanshi too did very well in theatres when it was released during Diwali.
The film didn’t do well because of the #BoycottBollywood gang
The silliest of all reasons by a mile! There has been a rise of a #BoycottBollywood gang on social media in recent times and they are of two types. One are the members of the audience that are die-hard fans of the late Sushant Singh Rajput. They claim to boycott all big Hindi films until ‘justice’ is done to SSR. But if they are really the reason for the film’s failure, the same film wouldn’t have done do well in metros like Mumbai and Delhi. And as pointed before, Sooryavanshi too wouldn’t have become a hit.
These ‘warriors’ are also specifically against films starring star kids. But then, Tadap (2021), the launch of Suniel Shetty’s son Ahan Shetty, did decent business despite of him not being a star.
There’s another bunch of this gang which has vowed to boycott all films starring Deepika Padukone because she stood with the JNU protestors in 2019. The fact that the film did well in the metros, as stated before, nullifies this claim too.
Reason for 83’s box office failure
There is a wide gap in the content preferences between the urban and non-urban sections of India. The box office result of 83 has just exposed this wide gap. The content of 83 has more appeal for the urban audience than the one based in small towns and villages. This might sound weird to many but masses of these regions won’t get excited to know the journey of a team winning a World Cup.
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This was also confirmed recently when I had a chat with the most experienced exhibitor in Gujarat, Rashmikant Bhalodia. When the film was going house full in advance in Mumbai, the theatres in Gujarat, especially the interiors, were going empty.
Also the film’s promotions didn’t reach the interiors of India. The promotions mainly consisted of the team travelling in big cities. There was an article mentioning how people in a village-like area didn’t even know that a film called 83 had released!
The wide gap between the both section of the audiences is also visible in the consumption of OTT shows. While we may love edgy or dark shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, such content is hardly seen in the semi-urban areas or villages. They still prefer south Indian action films dubbed in Hindi.
And they had that choice this time in the form of Pushpa. The film had every masala that the masses of these regions prefer. So it’s obvious that they would prefer this over 83. In fact, Pushpa earned more in its recently concluded third week than the previous one. This has also ensured that its shows have increased.
The fate of 83 is very similar to that of Swades (2004). The Ashutosh Gowariker film failed at the box office but it continues to be hailed as a great film. The same will happen with 83.
