Anna way not the ultimate way!

Not often does it happen that sequels turn out to be successful, be it movies, be it books or be it a social movement. But if the sequel involves Munna Bhai, GOLMAL or for that matter Anna Hazare then such striking aberrations do happen. So when Anna Hazare launched a nationwide protest against corruption and incorporation of Jan Lokpal Bill in April 2011 it garnered massive support but few weeks later when Baba Ramdev (BRD) tried to do an encore it was a flop show. So naturally when Anna declared a similar protest from Aug 16th the expectations of that being a success on the lines his 1st act (in april) were not very high. Though the support for the cause was huge but looking at the government's tyranny the chances of the sequel also being a hit were minimal. But what happened eventually was monumental, the Anna sequel was a bigger and a mightier hit not only in India but even internationally.

But why did it work for Anna and not for BRD? Probably because BRD tried to cash in on the good work or awakening caused by Anna where as on his second wind Anna just continued from where he left in the 1st innings. Or probably because BRD couldn't alienate himself from the saffron forces and people considered his act as a stunt to gain popularity and business mileage, Anna on the other hand had a very clean and well respected image. Also probably because when the government tried to arrest BRD he tried evading the place and made things worse for himself, Anna on the other hand offered to surrender and thereby not only flummoxed the government but also attracted a massive nation wide support. In simple terms Anna and his team did a very good ground work before launching the epic movement with even their plans B, C and D ready, BRD on the other hand was so poorly prepared that even his plan A seemed to be a joke. No wonder Anna succeeded and BRD literally bleed ed!

Nothing against Anna Hazare or any of his team members as Anna in particular has been a symbol of integrity, restrain and hope all his life, a proud salute to the Gandhian for his conduct and contribution to the society.But does it mean that one can fast for 13 odd days, garner nationwide support and get whatever he/she wants? On broader terms this is what happened in this case, no doubt that the cause for which the fasting or the movement was launched was a very genuine and a much needed one too but does it mean the one can bypass the system and literally blackmail the government to abide to his/her demand? One can rightly argue that with the unacceptable levels of corruption and the tyrannic ways that government has resorted to off late, this was the only way left with the masses. But then the 'my way or the highway' approach has never yielded a fool proof and a long term solution. The rightful approach should be such that it should give due respect to the views from all corners, earnestly debate on each of the viewpoints and then come to a concrete draft built solely on the basis of merit, neither through state's overpowering methods and nor through any individual's or group's blackmailing trysts.

Also another misconception that was highly prevalent during the Anna's movement was that if you are not supporting Anna, you are supporting the government or you are not against corruption or even worse you are not a true Indian.Not many believed in the fact that there can be a third view too other than the Government's and the Anna's view, may be even a fourth or fifth view also. And one of those views can be supporting the cause for which Anna is fighting (i.e. fight against corruption) but not supporting the ways Anna has adopted (i.e. the path of fasting, protesting and blackmailing). The objective of that non-Anna route will still lead to a fight against corruption, so it doesn't necessarily mean that if one is not supporting Anna's movement he/she is a pro-government or pro-corruption idealist.

But the biggest question that we need to ask ourselves is that can we transform into a corruption free nation just by the mere implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill? Can we attain the ultimate goal of a corruption free India by wearing the 'I am Anna' caps, passionately waving the tricolor and indulging in an eternal fast? The simple answer to this not so complicated question is 'NO'. The practitioners of corruption and wrong doings will still find means and ways to fool the Jan Lokpal laws and keep on wiping off the hard earned tax payers money.So certainly even a mass movement of such proportions won't eradicate the age old vice. What can eventually loosen the scum of corruption and eventually eradicate it would be a strong resolve in each and every countrymen to abstain from corruption on the very microlevel. That will involve abstaining from giving bribes for getting the smallest of jobs done like bribing the admission supervisor for child's admission into a very good school or paying a ransom to the babu for getting a home loan sanctioned. This route might seem to be an arduous and frustrating one to start off with but then this is the only way that will fulfill the dream of a corruption free India. Seems tougher than holding rallies and indulging in fasts but then this is the only way!

Salman Khan – A foolproof recipe for success, sans logic!

In the reverberating times of Anna, Messi and KBC fame Mr. Bachchan, if there is one man who can still find a place in this highly competitive canvas then it’s none other than Salman Phenomenal Khan. And riding high on the success of 3 of the biggest bollywood blockbusters of all times Wanted, DABANG and Ready the phenomenal Khan has every reason to have a claim on every inch of that coveted canvas. No wonder whatever the mercurial star is touching these days is turning into GOLD.

Though I am not a big fan of Salman the actor but off late I have turned into a big fan of Salman the entertainer. The star might not be the best actor that has donned the 70mm screen, he might not be the swiftest of dancers to have glued the masses and he might not even be the best of stunt men to have awed the millions but he certainly has his own ways that make him click with the masses. Most importantly the guy has a CONNECT with the audiences that makes him a seriously successful phenomena. And it is this ‘connect’ that drew me to the nearby multiplex on the first day of his latest release BODYGUARD and what followed was a visit to a neighboring chemist to buy half a dozen analgesics.

Interestingly, what bamboozled me was not the quality of the movie but the reaction of the masses watching the movie alongside me. For the entire two and half hours when I was trying to find logic and reasons to join the bandwagon, the major chunk in the hall was whistling, clapping and screaming in joy and literally getting berserk to say the least. Also, it wasn’t that I went to the hall with a mindset to find follies in the flick, that being the case I wouldn’t have shown the urge to watch the movie on first day morning. In fact I also wanted to be a part of the whistling and screaming lot but somehow I couldn’t find a frame in which I could have done so.

And this experience made me utterly worried about myself to the extent that for a while I even started doubting my psyche thinking what is wrong with me that I am not able to enjoy and cherish a movie that has in a matter of just 4 days become the biggest grosser and blockbuster of bollywood, glued the masses like never before and has become a talking point in every forum. For me the movie had no storyline, no great music, no out of the world comic acts and was just a loosely scripted and badly narrated piece of work riding solely on the popularity of a superstar. And if we talk in the rating terms the movie couldn’t have garnered a rating of more than 1 out of 5 by any means but still the most celebrated critics of our country couldn’t muster the courage to rate it below 3.5, 3 or 2.5. Probably because the biggest grosser tag and the Salman flag is far too heavy to gauge a movie on solely qualitative terms.

Nothing against Salman Superstar Khan though, he is and has always been a heartthrob among masses and definitely for right reasons. In fact full credit to him for being so fit and good looking even at this age, to an extent that he has left the likes of SRK,Hrithik and Aamir far behind in the race for supremacy. But if we go by the parameters of logic and excellence I still fail to understand how movies like BODYGUARD and READY work to such successful extent. Probably, in fact most definitely the masses know it better and it’s futile to ponder so much about the logic in these no brainer times of Dhinkachika and Desi Beats!

Viewpoint -> I would still vouch for movies like ‘Zindagi na milegi dobara’ to attain the cult status that these otherwise brainless movies are getting.

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Thrashed 4-0 but a sense of DEJAVU!

In the cricketing parlance the year 2011 is gives a sense of DEJAVU. The year has a striking resemblance with the year 2007, the year when Team India touched both the highs and lows of the game in a span of few months. On one hand the team suffered an early exit in one of the year’s biggest event (read ODI World Cup); on the other hand the same team bounced back from nowhere and clinched one of the year’s another big event (read innuagral T20 World Cup). The year 2011 is also quite similar but for the sequence of events, in that the team again won the year’s biggest event (read ODI World Cup) and got literally thrashed in the year’s another big event (read England Test Series).

The recent thrashing of the Indian team in the test series in England has come as a surprise for one and all. England were always expected to be a tough bet in their home conditions but a 4-0 annihilation, that too when the team was sitting atop the ICC Test Rankings, riding high on the laurels of last 2-3 years (including the recent World Cup victory) and boasting highly of the most envied batting line up in the world was a real tragedy, in fact a massacre for the true Indian fans. And what was even more tragic was not the final score line or the margin of defeat but the lack of intent and competitiveness shown by Team India. Barring the 1st session of the test series England outplayed, outclassed and dominated India in every single session of the series and that pretty much summarizes the reason for a 4-0 score line.

Though the postmortem of the tragedy has already started in all corners, be it TV shows, Newspaper columns, Blogosphere or Office Canteens, with every party ready with its own reason(s) for the debacle, to single out one particular reason for the failure would be gross injustice to the magnitude of the disaster itself. So if not one, what are the primary reasons for this out of the blue bolt?

Poor Scheduling. Back to back international series, no gaps between the tours, lack of practice matches before the series, rakes up as THE most important reason for the drudgery.
Horrible Injury Management. BCCI’s inability to manage injuries of its key players is another key reason for this sudden dip in potency of the erstwhile no.1 team in the world. Players kept on playing in far less important tourneys like IPL and West Indies tour despite their injuries that lead to their breakdown at this crucial juncture.

IPL. Every critic’s favorite punching bag is certainly a big contributor in the team’s failure at the highest level. On one hand where players from the countries like Australia and England abstain themselves from the lucrative but inconsequential IPL matches, all the Indian stars actively participate in the event and eventually drain themselves out before the much more important fixtures of the year.

Lack of sightedness. When countries like England, Australia and South Africa identify the iconic series like Ashes well in advance and prepare and rotate their players accordingly to keep them fighting fit for such high profile clashes, BCCI has no such vision. No wonder half of the superstars find themselves fatigued with no bench strength to back them up.

No Prioritization. With all the boards setting their priorities right by giving Test cricket the utmost importance and managing its players and domestic setup accordingly, BCCI has only one priority and that is to rake moolah. And since the board is successfully able to do so through IPL, its priority clearly seems to be T20 cricket when it should always have been Test Cricket. No wonder the times to come would be even more worrisome for the Indian cricket.

A plethora of reasons can be identified but unless the board (read BCCI) changes its attitude from being the top grosser to being the top team (in cricketing terms) in the world, the plight of the Indian cricket team is only going to get worse. Though a section of self proclaimed cricket pundits also feel that for the betterment of Indian cricket, veterans like Tendulkar, Dravid & VVS should call it a day and make way for the young Turks but the simple question is, do we have able replacements for these stalwarts? Forget replacements, do we even have players with half the talent and temperament these guys possess(ed). And it’s not that the youngsters haven’t got the desired chances, players like Yuvraj and Raina have got handful of opportunities but every time this big stage (read Test cricket) has looked too big for them. Naturally in few months or at max in few years the trinity will fade by eventually hanging their boots and the mantle will then pass on to the young brigade. But unless the focus changes from the bang bang cricket and money minting spree to a much more demanding and testing grind of Test cricket, the future will remain to seem bleak.

On the hindsight, things did change after the 2007 debacle (read ODI world cup early exit) and triggered a golden era of Indian Cricket, only if the 2011 debacle (read 4-0 Test thrashing in England) can also trigger a similar era. But this time the tide seems to be turning the other way round!

Viewpoint – Till the point, a T20 playing Suresh Raina earns more than the Test playing Rahul Dravid, odds won’t stake in favor of Indian Cricket! A pointer too simple yet too complex for BCCI to comprehend!