Good chance for Badrinath

Its a good chance to cement his place in the indian line up for the TN batsman S.Badrinath, who has been named as a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar for the one day series in Sri Lanka.

Young and run-hungry, S Badrinath has been the mainstay of the Tamil Nadu batting for the last three seasons, and also their captain for the last two. Standing tall at the crease, Badrinath, who plays with a correct technique, was pitchforked into the national consciousness in 2005-06 when he nearly topped the batting charts, scoring 636 runs from 7 matches at almost 80, missing pole position by 36 runs to Amol Muzumdar, who played one match more. In comparison 2006-07 was not as spectacular, but Badrinath managed 436 runs at almost 50. An excellent fielder at point, and elsewhere in the circle, Badrinath began as a grafter, something quite rare at a time when strokemakers ruled, and expanded his repertoire of strokes as he gained experience. In 2007, he piled on the runs for India A on their tours to Zimbabwe and Kenya, and in the home series against South Africa A. In October, he was called-up to the ODI squad for the last three one-dayers against Australia, though he did not get a game. He was dropped for the series against Pakistan that followed. He shrugged off the disappointment by performing well in the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy season, scoring 659 runs at 65.90

Kuselan comedy

Vadivelu has expressed his disappointment at couple of comedy scenes involving him in ‘Kuselan’ has been axed.

According to Vadivelu, 'there were few more comedy scenes involving me in my saloon in the movie. Unfortunately considering the length of the movie, it has been axed. Those comedy scenes had come out well. I wonder why it was axed'.

Recently, Meena too in an interview to a newspaper had said that her role had been cut short. Though she did express her joy at being part of a Rajinikanth film, she said a few emotional scenes involving her had to be axed in the film.

KP does it again

"The captaincy will cramp his style," was the cry that went up when Kevin Pietersen was unveiled as England's new leader. And to a certain extent it did. There was not a switch-hit in sight as KP set about building on the advantage that his bowlers had given him on the first afternoon - instead he produced 137 balls-worth of solid, confident, and unyielding strokeplay, in an innings that was the very epitome of responsible. Perhaps his only moment of hesitancy came when Paul Harris entered the attack with Pietersen a single blow away from his hundred. At Edgbaston, he went for it and memorably failed. This time, he came half-forward and was saved by his thigh as Harris tweaked one past his bat. One over later, however, and a forceful clip off the toes whistled through midwicket to cue the trademark leap and punch, and the latest bout of adulation of Pietersen's Oval love-in

Kuselan

How many times have you walked out of a theatre emotionally choked up after watching a Rajinikanth film? How many times have you seen Rajinikanth not uttering a punch dialogue in his films? How many times have you not seen Rajinikanth flexing his muscles and bashing the baddies in his movie?

Watch ‘Kuselan’, where one can find a completely different Rajinikanth – the real Rajinikanth, the human being. The movie is perhaps an answer to his critics who have been criticizing the actor for doing routine 'commercial masalas'. Thanks to P Vasu, Rajinikanth reinvents himself bringing out the actor within him through this film. One thing is very clear. He has not acted to commercial compulsions.

The movie throws light on the real Rajinikanth, who has been quite a puzzle with millions of his fans. And the star himself answers questions that have been plaguing the minds of millions of his fans. Want to know the answers to why Rajini has not entered politics? Why the superstar often goes to the Himalayas? Why the actor still prefers to work in run-of-the-mill stuff?

‘Kuselan’ has got all the answers. With Rajinikanth by his side, P Vasu has come out with a message that is quite though provoking. The usual adage is 'Matha Pitha Guru Deivam'. With ‘Kuselan’ the adage gets an addition - 'Matha Pitha Guru Nanban Deivam'.

He plays the 'Super Star' himself and does not at any time impose himself on screen. Watching Rajinikanth play the role with consummate ease is like watching Sachin Tendulkar on song at the middle of the crease. It's like listening to Beethoven's symphony sitting under the moonlight. Though the story doesn't revolve around Rajinikanth, he manages to leave his indelible presence on screen. Especially towards the climax, an emotional Rajinikanth identifies his friend recalling their good old innocent days. These are sequences that evoke tears to our eyes bring the human side of each of us to the forefront.

It is a tough task for an actor like Pasupathy to carry the entire burden on his shoulders acting alongside a scene stealer like Rajinikanth. As a poor barber, fighting for survival, he evokes all the sympathy. Seemingly an extension of his role in ‘Veyyil’, Pasupathy passes out with flying colors. Hats off to him!

Meena as his caring wife is more of a realistic portrayal. She understands the emotional struggles of her husband and gives him the much needed solace and comfort. She sure manages to get under the skin of her character and has done an extremely good job.

Nayanthara plays herself in the film and executes the job entrusted to her quite well. She plays a heroine in films, who shoots for a movie alongside Rajinikanth. She fulfills the glamour quotient and serves the purpose indeed well. Vadivelu's comedy compliments the script well. His trick to get an audition with Rajinikanth, who is shooting in the village brings down the roof with laughter.

The movie boasts of a huge star cast including Livingston, M S Baskar, Sona, Geetha, Fathima Babu, Brahmanandham, Chinni Jayanth. All have significant parts to play in the film.

Prabhu plays a cameo while a host of stars including Sneha, Soundarya Rajinikanth, Suriya among others appear for the ‘Cinema Cinema’ song.

Kuselan is about two childhood friends, with one becoming the Numero Uno in the film industry, while the other lands up as a barber in a hamlet.

Balakrishnan alias Bala (Pasupathy) is a poor barber in a village. He leads a happy life with his wife Sreedevi (Meena) and his children, until a film crew lands in their village to shoot for a movie. Coming to know that Super Star Ashok Kumar (Rajinikanth) has come for shooting in the village, and also with the understanding that he is Bala's childhood friend, villagers flock to Bala's house with favors. A man with tremendous self dignity, Bala fears to meet Ashok Kumar thinking that he may not identify him. But, when the two meet after a long gap, the emotional drama between the pals, sets up an emotional 20-minute climax.

Complimenting Vasu's hard work are Arvindh Krishna's excellent cinematography and the brilliant musical score by G V Prakash Kumar. The catchy numbers ‘Om zarerare’ and ‘Cinema Cinema’ have especially been captured in an attractive manner by Aravindh Krishna. The background score towards the climax sets up the momentum.

Hats off to director P Vasu! The film-maker, who knows the knack of remaking a Malayalam hit in Tamil, has rendered a movie that has the right packaging of emotions. He has intelligently packaged the movie with commercial elements that a hardcore Rajinikanth fan would love without spoiling the crux.

Produced by Pushpa Kandaswamy and Vijayakumar, ‘Kuselan’ is a movie that would go down well with Rajinikanth fans and this is a great opportunity to see the real side of this spectacular actor though on celluloid.

Real test for Pietersen

Although he has played 42 tests till date, this will be the first "real" test for Kevin Pietersen. Thrust into the role of captaincy after Michael Vaughan resigned few days back, Pietersen is all set to face the first real test of his cricketing career against the South Africans in the final test at The Oval starting today.

As a first step, Pietersen has named an attacking team, which has both Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison combined with the swing of Jimmy Anderson and the wily left arm spin of Monty Panesar. Ravi Bopara, who was brought in as a replacement for Vaughan, seems, will be left out of the playing eleven.

Pietersen has been an attacking player all through his test career till date and it remains to be seen whether he plays the same way with the captaincy being the additional burden. There was also some speculation about the rift between coach Peter Moores and Pietersen and that has been put to rest by KP himself in the pre match conference.

It remains to be seen if Pietersen will enjoy the support of his mates as he has few captains' within his team himself. He has asked all the players to play by instinct and play attacking cricket.
Welcome to the new world of captaincy. Its the Pietersen's world of captaincy. Will it be a hit? Will it take England to the next level? Only time will tell.

Ajith In Race Remake

Ajith's passion for motorbike racing is widely known. He took part in many motor racing championships and carved a niche for himself.

The actor, who bid adieu to car races a couple of years ago, is now getting ready to act in the Tamil remake of Hindi blockbuster 'Race'.

Ashok Amritraj who produced Shankar's film 'Jeans' has approached Ajith with this offer. 'Race' is about two brothers played by Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Khanna double crossing each other which eventually leads to their downfall.

Attracted by the storyline, Ajith has expressed his consent to act in the film.

End of an Era

Michael Vaughan, the most successful captain of England cricket team resigned after his team's loss to South Africa in the recent test series. It brings an end to Vaughan's 51-match run as captain, four games short of becoming England's long-serving leader, although his 26 victories makes him, statistically, the most successful captain.

Pressure on Vaughan has been growing in recent months despite back-to-back series victories against New Zealand. The series loss to South Africa is England's third in five series, dating back to the 1-0 reversal against India last summer. They then lost by the same margin in Sri Lanka before losing the first Test against New Zealand in Hamilton. Vaughan led a shake-up of the team by dropping Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison and England hit back to take the series, but the performances were not convincing.

Winning the ashes in 2005, beating South Africa away and beating West Indies away were one of the high points in Vaughan's captaincy tenure.

Singh is King

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha with a comfortable margin belying predictions of a close contest on a day marred by unseemly scenes over allegations of bribery.

The Prime Minister's motion expressing confidence of the House in the Council of Ministers was carried with 275 votes in favour and 256 against.

In a House with an effective strength of 541, it was not immediately clear how many abstained. The results were announced after nearly an hour when officials corrected the initial figures which showed 253 votes in favour of the motion, 232 against and 2 abstentions in a total vote of 487.

In the din caused by BJP members demanding Prime Minister's resignation and shouting down his speech, Singh laid his reply to the debate on the table of the House.

As Opposition members pressed for a division, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee ordered voting by electronic voting machine.

Even before the final result was announced, ruling alliance members went to the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to greet them on the victory in the confidence motion, the first in over four years of this government.

The Prime Minister sought the confidence of the House after the Left parties, which provided outside support since May 2004, withdrew it on the issue of government operationalising the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal by approaching the IAEA.

The two-day debate on the motion was often acrimonious but it took an entirely different turn after BJP members shocked the House by producing bundles of currency notes alleging bribes by the Samajwadi Party to them to abstain from voting.

Four BJP members, including former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, were permitted to vote from the inner lobby of the House through slips on account of their ill-health.

Race

The director duo, Abbas-Mastan returns with yet another thriller, but this time around a flick that is sleek and high on style. After over 6 years of waiting, the duo finally does a film with Saif and is it worth all that much?
Well to take off, the film revolves around two brothers; Ranvir [Saif Ali Khan] and Rajeev [Akshaye Khanna] who own a huge stud farm in Durban, South Africa. They breed horses on their huge ranch house and are also the biggest bookies in the horse racing circuit. Ranvir, the elder of the two, is known to be a very shrewd man. He is very aggressive and is always on the move. Rajiv, on the other hand, is very laidback and is also a chronic alcoholic.

Sophia [Katrina Kaif] is Ranvir’s personal secretary. She adores her boss and loves him. Ranvir is totally unaware of her feeling and regards her adoration as her efficiency. Sonia [Bipasha Basu] is an upcoming Indian ramp model in Durban.

Sonia loves Ranvir, but through a twist of fate gets married to Rajiv. When she discovers that Rajiv is a chronic alcoholic, things begin to get worse.

Eventually, Ranvir and Sonia come very close to each other and an affair starts between the younger brother’s wife and the elder brother. When the younger brother starts suspecting his wife, all hell breaks loose.

A murder is committed, a contract killing is issued, double crossings become the order of the day… A sharp-tongued investigative officer R.D. [Anil Kapoor] starts an investigation with his brainless assistant Mini [Sameera Reddy].

Abbas- Mastan have proved it over the years that no one can beat them when it comes to the thriller genre. With films like Khiladi , Baazigar , Humraaz ; Race might just add to their list of hits. The film has several twists and turns that keep you saying ‘oh’ and reanalyzing everything so that bits and pieces of the story fill in to form the collage called Race.

But one little factor that has to be noted is that as the duo directors attempt to make things complicated and shock the audience , they just kind of lose out on the whole plot and this con man film at the end makes the viewer wonder when did certain characters team up to plot against the others.

The screenplay of the film by Shiraz Ahmed is good but at times is loose. The 1^st half of the film is quite a drag and the songs look really forced upon. Next time around, Abbas-Mastan should consider chopping some tracks. Maybe this time they couldn’t do so considering their producers are Music giants.

On the acting front, the film truly belongs to Saif. Saif looks stylish, smart and carries the adrenaline in the character perfectly. His dialogue delivery is just amazing and the action sequences considering he did them all by himself is just commendable. Watch out for Saif’s jump from a great height. It’s terrifically done courtesy Allan Amin.

With due credit to all the actors in the film, Race wouldn’t be all that racy if it wasn’t for Saif. Watch out the dialogue where he addresses his younger brother on the funda of winning-losing and on the outcome of betrayal where he blows up his jockey’s car.

Chaos theory

As i said before, went to watch Dasavatharam on first day.Was fortunate i should say. I was dumbstruck seeing the technical quality ,the screen play,kamal's getups ,the story and the list goes on.Wait wait this is not a review of the great movie but this is something related to the movie(spoiler:I have revealed the plot).After coming back from the movie I still did not understand what a butterfly was doing in the opening scenes of the movie.Well thats the central theme 'butterfly effect'.To tell in a single line the small variation in initial conditions of a dynamic event has a great impact in its eventful result.Is it confusing ? Well the theory says that a flap of a butterfly might well change the initial conditions for occurrence of a tornado by stopping it or changing the direction or even changing its speed.Still more confusing? Here we go again let us consider a ball set on top of a hill it might run down in any direction that depends on the initial conditions.So now in the movie Dasavatharam which is about chaos theory the events like the immersion of the 12 century idol can be taken as an initial condition for the occurrence of tsunami(chaos) and thus the plot.So in the movie thus from Govind's perspective the idol was just part of the chaos theory but from Aandal's perspective its GOD's will at which the events have happened.So next time when the butterfly flaps remember some thing might well be on its way.