Being Cyrus - movie review

I felt sort of uncomfortably dazed filing out of the theatre and could sense a similar mood hovering. I decided to take the chance and idle talked a couple of people as to how they felt the movie was. A positive would have made me rush off the parking lot lest they should change their mind; but they did not like the movie - well, a negative answer always invites trouble in the form of curiosity, I prodded on. But not surprisingly, they did not have an answer!
Being Cyrus could probably start a trend or call it a fiasco and give it the thumps down. The movie is a psychological thriller or rather a drama revolving around a parsi family in a setting moving smoothly between Panchgani and Mumbai. The family is rather dysfunctional with Katy(Dimple Kapadia) and Dinshaw(Nasserrudin Shah) trudging away in Panchgani and Farokh (Boman Irani), Tina (Simone Singh) and Fardoonjee(Honey Chhaya) making up the Mumbai lot. Dinshaw is aging in mind and body and is quite oblivious to whats going on around him, especially his wife Katy's doings. Then there is his brother Farokh in Mumbai and his wife Tina, taking care of Fardoonjee (their father), who is a millionaire in his own right as the owner of an old dilapidated building in Mumbai.
Enter Cyrus(Saif Ali Khan) who is taken in as a pottery apprentice into Dinshaw's family and all the cracks begin to open, quite literally. The story is narrated by him, emphasizing his journey into himself perhaps, and a technique thats not been often used.
The movie is English, which is a rarity in Indian Cinema-but with a parsi backdrop, a Hindi dialogue delivery would have just not fit. The screenplay, story, dialogue and direction are quite flawless and the performances of the six characters are also highly impressive.
Saif Ali sizes up an impressive performance as someone in search of his own inside self perhaps. Nasseruddin as the dopey sculptor does his role with much elan as he does all other roles of his, a sense of deja vu might be apparent going by his recent roles. Boman Irani, well what can I say about this genious - versatility is his middle name.
As I started in the beginning; everything seems fine about it, but why the grimness? All I can say is, its probably the beginning of a trend and would take sometime to sink in!!
Debutant director, Homi Adajania has to be patted for starting something of this sort.

cricket and its miracles...

Australia Vs SA ODI 12-Mar-2006



The shorter version of this sport is never short of excitement, from pintch-hitting to match-fixing, the world gets to see it all. But there has to be a mother-of-all matches, those rather defining moments that leave long-lasting footprints; and without doubt this match would go a long way in cementing that. Crazy, incredible, unreal...you name an adjective and they sound an understatement.

Little would have Australia, arguably the best cricketing team in the world in both versions of the game today, dreamt of being on the losing side after posing a mammoth 434/4 in 50 overs. Ponting proving why he is the No.1 batsman in the world with a 105 ball 164 did the bulk with Gilchrist, Hussey and Katich pitching in the rest with half centuries a piece.

Needing to score at a rate of almost 9 runs per over, South Africa were all set to attain the unthinkable. Captain Graeme Smith led from front, laying the foundation with a blistering 90 off 56 balls. Then it was Gibbs' 175 off a mere 111 balls which made all the difference and would go down in history as one of the best. Not to mention the little cameo by Boucher 50 off 43) who has lately made it a routine in coming up with useful knocks as these. He went on to hit the winning shot, a shot that stunned the crowd, a shot that multiplied into as many Australians on and off the field and hit straight at their hearts, a boundary to end the innining at 438/9 with one ball to spare as if to make sure "if u aint dead the remaining one will make sure mateys..."
History was made and records came tumbling, the highest ODI score by a team beating SriLanka’s 10yr old record was made by Austalia in the first innings; a record that could not manage to stay long was pushed to second emphatically by South Africa on the same day. The highest aggregate in a ODI; 972 runs scored in a day. And some strange records too ; Lewis becomes the most expensive bowler in the history of the game with 113 runs scored off his 10 overs…the match had it all.
If you are searching for the highlights, get a hold of the entire recording, chances are you might not find the difference.