Quiet Sreesanth

Has Sreesanth said good bye to his tantrums ? He has definitely become quiet now. No antics after delivering the ball. Only thing that reminds of old Sreesanth is the hand movement while walking back to his bowling mark. But I think that Sreesanth minus his tantrums is less effective. Except his return test, he hasn't had much success and now that he is injured too.

Sreesanth reminds me of tennis genius John McEnroe of the eighties. I know talent-wise there is no comparison. McEnroe is considered a tennis great. The only similarity is that both are sun sign Aquarians ( McEnroe born on Feb 16 and Sreesanth on Feb 6 ) and both are known for their on-field tantrums.

In McEnroe's case, one felt that his cursing and racquet breaking tantrums often spurred him to perform better. Or it could be that the opponent loses his concentration on seeing such antics. Sometimes, it had opposite effect too, with McEnroe losing the game. I often felt the same way about a lesser talent like Sreesanth. His antics sometimes fired him to bowl better and it has the opposite effect when he is controlled by the tantrums.

Well it remains to be seen whether quieter Sreesanth is as effective as the earlier angry one.

Football Nightmare

Today is my birthday. Some days ago I read that GV Raja football tournament is being organised again in Thiruvananthapuram after a gap of around 25 years. And it has brought back nightmarish memories

I distinctly remember the last tournament in the mid eighties. I was standing in queue to buy tickets to watch the final at the Chandrasekhar Nair stadium which was jam-packed. I don't remember the teams in the final. I heard a huge wail from the stadium and as I turned my head, I saw the overloaded makeshift gallery collapsing sideways with a thud. Hands and legs were flaying all around and it was a ghastly sight which was over in seconds.

It took me few seconds to realise what had happened. I ran towards the stadium. By that time a big crowd had gathered around the collapsed gallery. trying to extricate people who got stuck between bamboo poles. I was so shocked that I left the place immediately thanking God. If I had got tickets early I would have been in that gallery. Many were seriously hurt and some succumbed to injuries.

The tournament was not played for years after that accident. It is being resumed now and I sincerely hope there wouldn't be makeshift galleries erected on poles made of bamboo or wood.

Kerala Cafe

When I went to see the movie Kerala Cafe, I knew it was portmanteau film consisting of ten small films directed by ten directors. But I didn't know which film was directed by whom. So while watching the movie I kept guessing the directors of each film. Of course I had no idea about the style of some directors like Uday Ananthan, Shankar Ramakrishnan and Anjali Menon.

I could guess three correctly. The surprises were Shyamaprasad film `Off Season' and Shaji Kailas's `Lalitham Hiranmayam'. Known for his serious themes, Shyamaprasad seems quite at ease in handling comedy. May be we can expect a full length comedy from him in future. I wrongly guessed that Lalitham Hiranmayam was made by Shyamaprasad as it had some heavy duty emotional scenes albeit short ones. But Shaji sprang a surprise. I forgot that Shaji has a flair for melodrama, which is evident in his action films like Aaram Thampuran and Natasimham.

I could guess B Unnikrishnan as the director of `Aviramam' as the director has a fixation for themes in which the protagonist is in financial troubles. The other correct guesses were `Bridge' by Anwar Rasheed and `Makal' by Revathy. In Bridge, Rasheed has gone the way of his compatriot Amal Neerad. Spectacular visuals of Kochi landscape. Has anybody captured the filth in Kochi so well in camera? From the love for Kochi terrain I could guess that it should be someone very familiar with the place. `Makal' was the most easy guess as the story about child prostitution told so touchingly could only come from a woman director.

If I was more alert I could have guessed Lal Jose as the director of `Puram Kazchakal'. Anjali Menon's `Shubha Yatyra' was a delight and she should be directing more mainstream films.

LOOK-ALIKES

Look-alikes or clones are an interesting subject. I've observed stark resemblances of personalities in different fields.

The first one that comes to mind is the late Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze and Australian cricketer Shane Watson. Tamil actor Jeeva and Sri Lankan cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara resemble each other.

I've noticed a similarity between Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and Bollywood hero Aamir Khan. Perhaps Hanks looks older now. Hollywood actor Jim Carrey and English cricketer James Anderson are two personalities who look like each other. But Carrey has aged now.

Among women I find a similarity betwenn Anjelina Joli and Malayali singer Jyotsana. The latter could be a desi version of Jolie with her bee-stung lips.

I hope readers could find more such look-alikes

I'll begin my first post by saluting Clint Eastwood who is having an amazing run of success as a director in the ripe old age. He'll be 80 this year. I'm eagerly waiting to see his new film Invictus in which he has teamed up with his friend Morgan Freeman. Whenever he teams up with Mr Freeman, the result is a hit. Who can forget Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. In the new movie Freeman plays Mandela. It should be definitely worth watching.

I 've seen lot of Clint films during by college years. I wouldn't say I was his fan ( although now I'm one)> But since many of the films he acted and directed came during my college daysin Thiruvananthapuram, I went and saw them. I got to watch his popular spaghetti westerns in the eighties. This tall, laconic man with gun or horse often as a companion ( I remember in one movie he appeared with an Orangutan ) never impressed me as an actor. His best expression was squinting his eyes. He was no great shakes as a director then.

But after Unforgiven in 1992, my opinion about him as a director has changed. And just when he is improving as an actor, he has decided to stop acting. He seems to be like a good wine maturing with age. Just look at the films made by him in the last decade. Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters of Iwo Jima, Changeling (in whic Angelina Jolie appears in a different role) and Gran Torina- all excellent films.

Already he has been nominated for best director in Invictus. Hope it will be a class film