IPL-Bigger and better..!

Well I had a blast last season with the IPL, this year too promises a lot of fun. It has gone bigger and better with England too joining the action.

Vijay Mallya, the owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers has bagged Kevin Pietersen, one of the most destructive batsman in world cricket today and Chennai Super Kings have clinched Andrew Flintoff, both have been taken for a whopping $1.5 million each, making them the highest paid cricketers of the IPL.

No team is looking underdogs now as the action starts on 10th April. Looking forward to all the T-20 action this summer with ICC T-20 World cup to follow.

Cheers..:)..!..

January releases-a waste of Money

In the month of January, there were many big budget releases, starting with the much awaited Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone starrer Chandni chowk to china. The movie was scheduled to be released last year along with Rab ne bana di jodi and Ghajini but as Akshay wanted his film as the best bet, he smartly delayed the release of the film to January to maximise film's profit by increasing collections all over India when there's no competition anywhere near, as there weren't any other big releases.
As the release date came nearer, Akshay left no stone unturned for the promotion of the film. But as always people have to leave there brains back home to enjoy a Kumar movie, this was'nt different either. The movie took a lot of criticism about the storyline and its authenticity.
The critics were particularly severe on the script writer as a result the movie suffered and only went average. As far as I was concerned, for me it was a fun and entertaining movie as I went with very low expectations after hearing all the criticisms. So I'll give this one 2 out of 5 for a pure entertainer.

Next in store was Raaz-The mystery continues...for all the horror movie freaks. This is said to be the sequel of the Bipasha Basu, Dino morea starrer superhit flick Raaz. As I am too a horror movie freak, I went with lots of expectations from this one with Emran Hashmi as one of my favourite superstars. But the movie turned out to be nothing more than a trash with no storyline whatsoever. Emran Hashmi gave another sizzling performance and the music too is good but the movie is plain boring in parts and so is Adhyayan Suman, I'll give this one a 2 out of 5 for a timepass. But you can actually buy a DVD of some Hollywood horror flick and watch it at home rather than spending Rs.150/- on this one, that would be more fun.

By the time this movie released in India, I already watched it 7 times in my Laptop. Yes, I just couldn't wait for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. I read about it several times in the papers, magazines, internet and just everywhere, as it was all praises for this one and I was pretty excited and just couldn't help but watch it before the release. I went again after its release in India and trust me guys, its a must watch for everyone.
Watch it for the performance of the kids and I can assure you one thing, you won't be dissappointed. I'll give this one 5 out of 5 for a bomb of a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Another release was Zoya Akhtar's Luck By Chance starring brother Farhan Akhtar, Konkana Sen and many more, the list seems endless as there are many special appearances by big bollywood stars. The movie is plain and simple with no twists and turns and if you love drama and performances this is a must watch. The film is refreshing and the presentation is good, but the only thing you'll find missing is entertainment and lack of good music can be one factor as it seems a bit slow for my liking.
But none the less a good movie and not a timepass. You can actually watch it when you are bored of action masala's and commercials. I'll give 3 out of 5 to Zoya Akhtar's first step in the Industry.
That's all folks, I am sorry about Victory as I couldn't find enough courage to watch Harman Baweja hit six sixes in an over.
As a whole the month of January is a big disappointment as majority of the releases were pure average. Next month promises a lot with Anurag Kashyap's Dev D, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Delhi 6 and Priyadarshan's Billu Barber in line for release.

Sealed with a win !

Win after win after win, its like Dhoni and co have forgotten how to lose a match as most things on field are going right.
Dhoni is in a habit of winning matches as Team India have registered yet another win over Sri Lanka on there home ground and sealed the 5 match ODI series 3-0 increasing there lead to 8 straight wins in a row. Easily the best phase of Indian cricket as they achieved a historic series win over Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka for the second time in 6 months. Sri Lanka have never been beaten by any team twice in a row ever in a bilateral series and the win came for team India on the eve of Sri Lankan independence day beating the home team by a record 147 runs, biggest loss in terms of runs on Sri Lankan soil till date.
Captain Mahela Jayawardene and co have plenty to think about as they stand no resemblance whatsoever to the team that was once so formidable on home turf.

Aussies on the Run !

After a humiliating loss to both India and South Africa in the longer version of the game, Australia lost its top spot in the ICC rankings to South Africa in one day internationals. South Africa won the 5 match ODI series 4-1 without there regular captain Graeme Smith who got injured in the test series. Botha captained South Africa in the absence of Captain Smith and he has not only beaten the aussies in their own backyard but has also clinched the number one spot for South Africa in the ODI's.

Ponting is clearly not happy with the team's performance and has preferred his experienced members of the squad over youth. But the results are far from encouraging as Australia lost its opening game to New Zealand in there ongoing 5 match ODI series on Monday. Captain Ricky Ponting has been dropped for the next 2 ODI's and the in form opening batsmen Shaun Marsh is out with injury. The only hope for Australia is All-rounder Andrew Symonds's comeback in the National Squad.

Australia's miseries aren't over as yet, as there star player Andrew Symonds has been declared unavailable for the forthcoming tour to South Africa.
Other Teams surely has a reason to smile.

The Last Nadal in the Coffin

2 or 3 years ago, Federer, even in his wildest dreams, won't have imagined himself in this condition. Lost Australian open to Rafael Nadal, clay court specialist. Nadal has been nothing less than a Nightmare for Roger Federer, the formal number one who lost his position to Nadal( currently world no. 1 rank holder in Men's singles). It is amazing how the spainian never lost to Federer in the french open. After beating Federer in Wimbleton last year, Nadal even won this year's Australian open denying Federer his 14th Grand slam victory to equal the record of Sampras. Nadal who has 7 grand slams to his name is the only stone in Federer's way and after beating Federer in the Australian open, he has threatened to take away all the major titles of the year.
Poor Federer has to find some solution to Nadal's 'never say die attitude' or else his desire to break Sampras's record can go for a toss.