INDIAN CRICKET - HAS THE BELL BEEN TIED TO THE CAT?

Hi friends.. After a gap of two months,here is my next blog about the happenings after the debacle of the Indian team in the Carribean.

First, a humiliating defeat in the hands of an unexperienced but well determined Bangladesh. Followed by a record score against Bermuda lighting up a ray of hope.Finally,a demoralised exit from the tournament due to the loss to one of the favourites,SriLanka.Last of all, the resignation of Indian coach,Greg Chappell.

A single question ponders over the minds of billion Indians - WHERE IS INDIAN CRICKET HEADING FOR?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) has finally sought to some urgent but most welcomed methods to bring Indian Cricket back on track.

The following are the key points announced in the recent BCCI meeting:

• The coach of Indian Under-19 team,Venkatesh Prasad appointed as bowling coach.
• The coach of India A team,Robin Singh appointed as Fielding coach.
• Ravi Shastri appointed as the team manager for upcoming Bngladesh tour.
• Change in the method of salary: The normal method of annual salary as Rs 50 lakh for group 'A' cricketers,Rs 35 lakh for group 'B' and Rs 20 lakh for group 'C' has been slashed.
• Payment based on performance has been introduced ie., if a batsman scores a Duck or if a bowler doesn't shine then it will affect his salary.
• The wages per match which has Rs 1.6 lakh has been slashed to Rs 1 lakh and an incentive of Rs 3 lakh will be given only if a test or one-day series is won.

Now the biggest factor which is supposed to be affecting Cricketers' performance - "ENDORSEMENTS"

BCCI has laid down following conditions for ads by players:

• A player has appear in a maximum of 3 Advertisements only.
• No advertisement can host more than 2 players
• Prior permission has to be sought from BCCI for acting in Advertisements.
• Players should not act in any advertisements for a time span of 2 weeks before any series.

After all these reforms by BCCI, let us hope that Indian Team regains its lost fame and come up with a good show.

ALL THE BEST FOR THE REFORMED TEAM INDIA

INDIAN CINEMA AT WORLD STAGE - A PANORAMA

The recognition of Indian Cinema in the world arena started from the time when Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" astounded the world audience.After that,there was a red carpet welcome to indian films throughout the world.Though indian directors were looking for commercial successes,people like Satyajit Ray,Adoor Gopalakrishnan,Mrinal Sen and many more etched sensational and eternal movies which will exist till the art of movie making exist in this world.

"LAGAAN" directed by Ashutosh Gowariker was nominated in Best Foreign film

category for Oscars.This year "RANG DE BASANTHI" was nominated for the same category.A.R.Rahman's three songs, of which "Lukka chuppi" and "Khalbali" from RANG DE BASANTHI ,are also nominated this year.This shows the reach of Indian Film and Music in world Arena.

Year 2006 saw some really great movies from Bollywood which were trendsetters. Let us see about two of those movies of condradictory views but powerful thoughts:

RANG DE BASANTHI

-A new generation Awakens

Rang De Basanthi film deals about a foreigner who decides to shoot a film about Indian Freedom Struggle after getting inspiration from her grandpa's diary which he wrote while serving as jailer in India.Here she meets four young guys,through her friend,leading carefree lives . After a lot of persuasions,these guys,her friend and another hindu activist decide to act in her movie.At this juncture,their close friend and the indian girl's fiance who is a pilot dies in the aircraft due to faulty spares in the plane.The defence minister makes it up as an accident and put the blame on the pilot quoting him as a rash pilot.

Under these circumstances,these guys decide to become real national activists and plan to kill the defence minister and executes the plan to perfection.Unfortunately,the government hails defence minister as martyr and mourns his death as a national loss.So these young people decide to make the country aware of the real scenario via All India Radio and there they are getting killed by the commandoes of Indian Police on the orders of the ministers.The film ends with a child laying sapling for a better India in the future.

This film really kindles the spirit in each and every young gun to take part in national movement and has awakened the new generation.

LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI

LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI is a sequel of blockbuster "MUNNABHAI M.B.B.S" directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

If Rang De Basanthi is a serious story,Lage Raho is a laughter riot with a great message as its predecessor.

The famous Munnabhai spends all his day listening to Radio to the voice of Janavi.He eagerly wants to meet her at any cost.At that time,a quiz programme on Gandhiji is announce and the winner will have a personal chat with Janavi at the studio.Munna with by his normal "DADAGIRI" means wins the competition and meets Janavi.He lies to her that he is a history professor so Janavi asks him to give a lecture on Gandhiji.He goes and reads about Gandhiji in library.

Now, the actual tuning point occurs.Gandhiji himself comes to the rescue of Munna and he delivers an excellent lecture.As days passed,the residence of Janavi is being evacuated by Munna' s subordinate Circuit on the orders of a builder.Munna and others protest against the builder asking back the keys of Janavi's Residence.The builder threatens Munna that he will tell the truth about him to Janavi.Munna is in a fix.Now once again Gandhiji comes to his rescue.On his advice,Munna confesses to Janavi and she leaves him.But Munna continues the struggle to get back the home in a different way which he calls "GANDHIGIRI"-a confluence of Gandhism and Dadagiri and finally get backs the keys as well as Janavi's hands.

The story may be simple but it really portrays the power of Gandhian values and how it can be implemented in current scenario.

LONG LIVE GANDHIGIRI

Seeing these kind of films,we can be rest assured that the Indian Film Industry is turning in a healthy and positive direction providing world class entertainment for the generations to come.