Archive for March 2009
- In: Airtel Super Singer | Entertainment | General | Music | Reality Show | Television
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There wasn’t much to look forward in the western round day 3 for me as it was just Ajeesh to perform in the competition. I guess it was a total boredom tactics by Vijay TV last night as most of us already guessed that there will be no elimination. They made all the singers sing again and few of them to repeat what they already sang.
As I said in the preview article Anupama finally made it to the competition as the chief guest and I guess Vijay TV did not expect just to have one contestant not spot selected. Surprisingly they started with Ajeesh, who sang an English song which was decent and everyone liked it, praised him a little bit and the chief guest said that she wanted to hear everyone sing.
Here started the total disaster for the day 3 episode. All the singers performed to make up the 45 minutes to complete the show and finally Anupama decided that Ajeesh is safe. Then there were some meaningless conversations between Srinivas and Anupama praising Ajeesh’s performance. Finally the show ended with Ajeesh joining the group again and yes there are 7 contestants left in the show for the third consecutive week.
This is just getting frustrating as after Aruna and Rohit there has been no elimination in the show. If you consider that Rohit was out only because he pulled out is even scarier. I am also getting irritated with the favoritism of the judges. It seems like Renu is one of them. The song which she sang yesterday was so bad and when we compare that performance to Raghini’s Tamil version the previous night the difference was even more visible. I am starting to wonder if Renu has to just turn up to get selected. She is monotonous, doesn’t experiment, Sings mostly P Susheela and Chitra songs and still keeps getting spot selected because the judges feel that her voice is good.
In spite of a legend like Chitra telling her to memorize the lyrics in a competition she still carries the lyrics in the hand. I think Raghini and Ranjani are far better singers than Renu at this moment. At least they try to experiment and sing different genre of songs. I have nothing against Renu but since I saw her first in the competition I would say she is the most unimproved singer of the pack.
Anyways let’s hope that at least next week we have some progress in the competition and there is some elimination. It’s almost going to be a year and we are not even close to identifying the top 3. I love the competition and hope that it goes for ever but it’s time to start the new season and finish 2008. Let’s hope the organizers get the point.
India look for a series win
Posted on: March 25, 2009
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | General
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India leads 1-0 in the 3 test match series against New Zealand after the comprehensive win in Hamilton last week. India will take on the hosts again and this time in Napier for the second test of the series. Dhoni and Gary Kirsten would want to wrap up the series in Napier. If this happens, it will be a great achievement from the team India.
India have announced an unchanged team for the second test match and understandably so. The batting looked good in Hamilton and the bowling was persistent. Munaf Patel has for now sealed the third seamer position in the team and Harbajan with his 6 wicket haul has solved the spin problem for now. Batting for the Indians has not been a problem in this series. Daniel Vettori knows that they have to do something different in the second game to upset the Indian batting line up. Their bowling looked toothless in the first test and did not look like taking 20 wickets.
New Zealand batting also struggled against Harbajan on a flat batting track. It was a bad loss for the hosts and it seems like on a good wicket they are no match for the Indians. Vettori wanted Jacob Oram to be back for the second test but that isn’t a possibility right now. It seems for the Kiwis Jeetan Patel will be back in the squad. The Kiwis will also worry about the form of their No1 bowler Kyle Mills who has been largely ineffective in this series in all formats.
All in all this will be another interesting game and I guess the toss will be important again for the home team. Dhoni and India would want to get the series win here to cap off a wonderful series. Best of luck to the team and hopefully we will win the series in Napier.
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | Entertainment | General | IPL | Languages and Politics
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Lalit Modi and BCCI chose South Africa as the venue for this years IPL
Yesterday BCCI announced that IPL will be moved to South Africa this year as the Indian Government failed to guarantee top security for the players in India. After the attack on the Srilankan team in Pakistan security has been a major concern for the foreign players in the subcontinent and with the General elections coinciding with the IPL the Govt said that they cannot offer security to the international players.
This was a great setback for IPL and BCCI as the tournament was a huge success in its first year and their negotiations with the Indian Police Department failed repeatedly. Finally Lalit Modi and BCCI decided to host this year’s edition in either England or South Africa.
After lots of deliberation SA was chosen as the venue over England due to logistics and weather being in the formers side. It’s rather unfortunate that the tournament has to be shifted to a different country as the electricity and the enthusiasm of the Indian crowd cannot be matched anywhere in the world. The players and the franchise owners are not that thrilled about this decision but they are left with no choice in the current scenario.
I think the decision was very practical by the BCCI and now the competition can go on without any security concerns. Even though this is basically an Indian tournament the involvement of International stars makes this event marketable anywhere in the world. South African cricket board seems to have been really thrilled to have got this opportunity and also their players and media seem to be really enjoying the same.
I personally did not want this series to go to England for two reasons. First is the weather and pitch conditions and second English supporters do not care about IPL or Twenty20. I am a part of a British cricket forum and I can see that they don’t give a damn about Twenty20 or IPL. So I guess it was a good decision to take it to SA who successfully staged a World Twenty20 just a year ago. Its really sad for Indian cricket that their premier tournament has to be shifted to another country and watching my team “Chennai SuperKings” play in Durban will not be the same as watching them in MA Chidambaram stadium.
But the silver lining is that the tournament at least will happen this year. This will also give players to get a good practice for the World Twenty20 which will follow the IPL. I hope that this year’s competition is as big as the previous year. I am sure that the SACB will do all in their ability to make this event a grand success. But I just hope that IPL is back next year to India where it proudly belongs. I will be back later with the profile of my team Chennai SuperKings next month.
- In: Airtel Super Singer | Entertainment | General | Music | Reality Show | Television
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The Airtel Super Singer day 1 was impressive with all the three contestants getting spot selected. Day 2 had four contestants to perform and it was an interesting prospect with Renu and Ajeesh not being that comfortable with this genre. I wasn’t that bothered about Prasanna and Raghini as I thought that they will be very comfortable with this round.
The first performer of the evening was Ajeesh and he sang “Girlfriend” song from Boys and sounded horrible. I am not sure if he had any issues with his voice or something but it sounded horrible. He did not have any energy or enthusiasm to carry a song which was beautifully sung by Karthik in the original. It was a bad performance and the judges felt the same. He was rightly not spot selected.
The second singer of the night was Renu. She chose “Mudhal Naal Indru” song from Unnale Unnale. She gave a decent performance but I did not like the choice of song. The judges felt that Renu had chosen a safe option and a clever one. In the western round they were hoping for something different and peppy but were disappointed in that regard. Even though the song choice did not impress the judges at least Srinivas and Unni, Renu was spot selected.
To be frank I am just fed up with Renu and the bias the judges have towards her. I understand that she has the best voice among the female contestants but still her song selections have been one dimensional. She does not take any risks and overall I would rate her below Raghini. Anyways that’s my opinion. I was hoping that the judges would anyways make her sing on the final day so that she can actually sing a proper western song. The only time in this competition she sang something different was “Vaa Vaa pakkam Vaa” song.
The third contestant of the night was Prasanna. He chose “Something Something” song from “Something Something Unakkum Ennakum” movie. He did a fantastic job. There was lots of energy and spirit in his performance and the judges liked his performance. It was a great effort by Prasanna after being in the verge of elimination last round. He was rightly spot selected.
The final contestant of the day was Raghini. She sang “Unakenna Naan” song from Kadhalil Vizhundaen movie. It was a brilliant performance I thought. It was fantastic and she did a great job. I am growing to like this smiling version of Raghini. She is been performing brilliantly since her return. She is smiling more these days and has been giving stunning performances in the last few rounds. She was spot selected too. It’s funny that every time Srinivas has to say something good about Raghini he looks in total disbelief. Unni though seems to like Raghini and called her “Rags” yesterday after her performance. He was the one who called Prasanna “Prassi”.
So finally 7 contestants perform and just one of them not spot selected. It was unfortunate for Ajeesh. Before this round began I had singled out him and Renu to struggle and it became right in his case. I am not sure what the judges have in mind for the final day as there is no competitor to Ajeesh. He is all alone on the final day and I am sure unless he turns in a brilliant performance he will for sure get eliminated. I hope he gives a better performance tonight.
It seems like recently Malini Yugendran isn’t speaking that much in super singer. Yugendran seems to be talking a lot more. Probably due to some feedbacks received. Whatever may be the reason it happened for good. Anyways I will be back with the review of Day 3 tomorrow.
Western round began last night with 7 singers still left in the competition. This round threw up some interesting possibilities as Prasanna, Ajeesh and Vijay escaped elimination last week. This week contestants might not be that lucky. All of them have to perform well to get through and there will surely be elimination this round (At least that’s what I hope).
My guess this week was that it will be tough for Renu and Ajeesh as rest of the pack will pull it off with comfort. Okay now coming back to last night’s show, I knew that there will only be 3 singers performing and the night started with Ranjani.
Ranjani began the western round with “Jillunnu oru Kadhal” song. This was a Jazz composition by AR Rahman, sung by Tanvi in the original. Ranjani did a fair job. Even though there were few errors here and there overall Ranjani’s attitude impressed the judges. She was rightly spot selected.
Sometimes during this season Vijay TV seems to go out of the way to extend or prolong super singer 2008. It’s really very irritating as the viewers have been watching it for almost a year and all of us would want to know who the super singer is. I did not get the idea of making the singers sing the song which they have prepared if they were not spot selected. This was another cheap trick to make sure that there are only three singers performing on the first evening on the show.
Anyways my frustrations aside, the second singer of the night was Vijay. As I mentioned earlier this is a bread and butter round for Vijay “Adams” (As he is called by the judges). Vijay is very comfortable with western songs which he has constantly proven in the previous rounds. Vijay sang “Uyirin Uyire” from “Kaaka kaaka”, the original sung by one of my favorite singers Kay kay. Vijay did a fantastic job. His attitude and improvisations were brilliant and as Srinivas rightly said Vijay knows how to perform on stage. He always displays right energy and attitude required for a western number. Vijay was spot selected and was requested to sing “Hotel California” song on the final night of the competition. That was the song he would have sung if did not get spot selected.
So that makes it 2 in 2. The final singer of the night was Ravi (The classical Guru of the group). Ravi sang “Oh Mama Mama” from the movie Minnale, another Harris Jeyraj song. He did a good job and with the hood pulled over his head he gave a rap song effect to the performance. There were few mistakes or probably I should say some improvements pointed out by Unni but overall everyone liked his performance. He was spot selected too. He was asked to sing his other song choice again and he sang a Linkin Park song.
So three singers perform on the first evening and all three get spot selected. This leaves Prasanna, Raghini, Renu and Ajeesh to perform on the second night. It will be very interesting to see how Renu performs. We have seen her struggle with breath while singing fast numbers in the past and let’s see how she goes. I don’t think that Raghini and Prasanna would have any issues in this round.
That’s all about last night’s show and just before I end this piece just wanted to mention that Malini Yugendran at last gave Yugendran chance to talk last night and hopefully this trend continues. I am just fed up of the bad pronunciations and horrible anchoring by Malini.
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I have been watching cricket for 20 years. I have been following Indian cricket since that time and looking at the progress they have made its heartening. I am not going to claim that India is the best side in the world but I will for sure say that they are one of the most improved sides.
Watching Indian team during the nineties was one of the most frustrating experiances especially when they toured abroad. Indian team was very good at home beating all top sides consistantly under Azhar and then Sachin but when they toured abroad they were clueless.
During the 90’s and till Sourav took over the mantle India toured Australia twice, England twice, WI once, New Zealand twice, SA twice, Zim twice and never won a single test. I almost resigned to the fact that India cannot. I will mostly look for some good performances from induvidual players like Sachin scoring a hundred or Kumble taking a fifer something like that and be happy with that.
It was dissapointing as we were constantly pasted by Australia and SA and the Indians had no answers. The tag of poor travellers was rightly associated with the team. Ganguly took over the reigns in 2000 after the match fixing row and boy did India improve after that.
I am by no means suggesting that we are blasting teams out since then but we are a fighting unit since Ganguly took over. We have won a series in England and WI. Drawn a series in Australia, Won a test in SA, won in Perth, Won a series in Pakistan and so many others such wins. In the last 8 years are so except for few series here and there we have at least managed to win one test match everywhere we have played.
I feel that we richly deserve the No 3 tag which we currently hold. The team under Dhoni has merely carried the legacy that Sourav has left behind. I would attribute most of our current success to Sourav and Wright combination in the way they nurtured youngsters like Sehwag, Harbajan and Yuvraj who are important cogs in present Indian wheel.
Dhoni has been the perfect leader India has been looking for and even though Kumble and Dravid did their best to keep the team going Dhoni has actually moved it forward a notch. Its too early to praise Dhoni and call him great but what he has done in the last year or so cant be cast aside as fluke. Its the consistancy which has got India the No 3 ranking.
As an Indian supporter who has been following the team for 20 years now its been a wonderful journey. From a team who just made up the numbers while travelling abroad to the team who are expected to win abroad regularly. The Indian captain and coach realise that they arent the No 1 side yet and have to consistantly perform to reach the pinacle which is a good sign.
I thought the team under Sourav called themselves world beaters too soon. I am also happy for Sachin who went on numerous tours abroad without ever winning anything in the 90’s most often rescuing his team from absolute pastings. Standing alone amidst chaos. Also for the numerous other Indian greats in the Nineties like Azhar, Jadeja, Srinath etc who would be really proud of what this current Indian team has achieved.
It was very thoughtful of Dhoni to dedicate the win in New Zealand to the seniors. Contrary to what the media portrayed of Dhoni, he is very respectful of the seniors which was very much evident when he called Anil to collect the trophy when we won the series against the Aussies and also requested Ganguly to captain in the dying moments of his final test match. This humility and respect will go a long way in Dhoni having a successful career as a player and captain.
This is an article of a happy Indian fan who knows that India have improved leaps and bounds from the frustrating 90’s. I am not claiming my team to be the best in the world right now as Australia and SA deserve those positions through the consistancy they have displayed over the years but we are the most improved in world cricket by a distance.
I am really proud of this team. They might not win everything but they will for sure compete.
Tale of two teams
Posted on: March 25, 2009
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Airtel Super Singer moves to western round this week and yes we still have 7 contestants. The judges decided to keep all the 7 after last week’s classical round as they felt that it was varying amount of training which separated the contestants. So they did not want to penalize the contestants for their lack of classical training.
This week though it’s going to be different as it is western round and I am sure there is going to elimination. This round will be interesting and I think Vijay and Prasanna will be really relieved after they scraped through classical round.
This round will be strong point for Prasanna and Vijay and I expect them to sail through. I watched few rushes from the show and it seems like Anupama will be the chief guest of the show. They showed performances of Ravi, Ranjani and Vijay in the trailer and it seems like they rocked the stage with their performances. At least Ravi and Vijay did, I am not sure about Ranjani though.
It will be interesting to see Ajeesh and Renu perform in this round as I feel that they will be the ones who might not get spot selected. Raghini and Prasanna might have it easy in this round but I am not sure if they will be spot selected.
Well let’s wait and see what transpires in today’s show. I am expecting a fun round and hopefully it will be great.
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India hammers New Zealand to win their first test on Kiwiland after 33 years. It was a clinical performance from this Indian team as they thrashed the hosts by 10 wickets. Gautam Ghambir hit the winning runs as India reached the target of 39 runs in just 5.2 overs. Daniel Vettori and the New Zealand team will be aware that they have been beaten by the better team.
The pitch was really flat and New Zealand began the fourth day on 75/3 with Ross Taylor and Flynn at the crease. The Indian bowlers persisted hard and kept the balls in the right areas to induce false strokes from the Kiwi batsmen. Munaf removed Taylor for 4 to leave New Zealand 4 down and then it was Bajji show all the way. Harbajan demolished the Kiwi middle and lower order to leave them 199/8 with Brendon Mccullum stranded at one end with Ian O’Brien to join him.
Harbajan took his first fifer against the Kiwis and his first here in New Zealand. It was a great performance from Bajji considering that the pitch wasn’t suitable to spin bowling. The wicket was pretty flat and it was the variations which Harbajan had which caused the home batsmen to make mistakes. There was a frustrating partnership between Mccullum and O’Brien which took the Kiwis to 275 but once it was broken their innings folded up pretty quickly on 279. Mccullum was the last man out for 84 caught by Laxman of Yuvraj to leave the Indians to get 39 runs to win the game.
This was a great win by the Indians considering the pre-tour reports where it was said that the Indians would struggle in New Zealand. It seems like India will win this series if they play to their potential. Sachin Tendulkar received the man of the match award for his sublime 160 in the first innings which helped India to gain a 240 run lead over the Kiwis. It was a total team effort and rightly acknowledged by the skipper in the post match interview.
This is yet another feather in the cap for Dhoni after the T20 world cup and CB series in Australia. It will be better if India manage to win the test series. The teams meet again in a few days in Napier for the second test match and I would expect India to play an unchanged team. The Kiwis will be hoping to put up a better performance next time around as they would not want to lose this series.
Western round began last night with 7 singers still left in the competition. This round threw up some interesting possibilities as Prasanna, Ajeesh and Vijay escaped elimination last week. This week contestants might not be that lucky. All of them have to perform well to get through and there will surely be elimination this round (At least that’s what I hope).
My guess this week was that it will be tough for Renu and Ajeesh as rest of the pack will pull it off with comfort. Okay now coming back to last night’s show, I knew that there will only be 3 singers performing and the night started with Ranjani.
Ranjani began the western round with “Jillunnu oru Kadhal” song. This was a Jazz composition by AR Rahman, sung by Tanvi in the original. Ranjani did a fair job. Even though there were few errors here and there overall Ranjani’s attitude impressed the judges. She was rightly spot selected.
Sometimes during this season Vijay TV seems to go out of the way to extend or prolong super singer 2008. It’s really very irritating as the viewers have been watching it for almost a year and all of us would want to know who the super singer is. I did not get the idea of making the singers sing the song which they have prepared if they were not spot selected. This was another cheap trick to make sure that there are only three singers performing on the first evening on the show.
Anyways my frustrations aside, the second singer of the night was Vijay. As I mentioned earlier this is a bread and butter round for Vijay “Adams” (As he is called by the judges). Vijay is very comfortable with western songs which he has constantly proven in the previous rounds. Vijay sang “Uyirin Uyire” from “Kaaka kaaka”, the original sung by one of my favorite singers Kay kay. Vijay did a fantastic job. His attitude and improvisations were brilliant and as Srinivas rightly said Vijay knows how to perform on stage. He always displays right energy and attitude required for a western number. Vijay was spot selected and was requested to sing “Hotel California” song on the final night of the competition. That was the song he would have sung if did not get spot selected.
So that makes it 2 in 2. The final singer of the night was Ravi (The classical Guru of the group). Ravi sang “Oh Mama Mama” from the movie Minnale, another Harris Jeyraj song. He did a good job and with the hood pulled over his head he gave a rap song effect to the performance. There were few mistakes or probably I should say some improvements pointed out by Unni but overall everyone liked his performance. He was spot selected too. He was asked to sing his other song choice again and he sang a Linkin Park song.
So three singers perform on the first evening and all three get spot selected. This leaves Prasanna, Raghini, Renu and Ajeesh to perform on the second night. It will be very interesting to see how Renu performs. We have seen her struggle with breath while singing fast numbers in the past and let’s see how she goes. I don’t think that Raghini and Prasanna would have any issues in this round.
That’s all about last night’s show and just before I end this piece just wanted to mention that Malini Yugendran at last gave Yugendran chance to talk last night and hopefully this trend continues. I am just fed up of the bad pronunciations and horrible anchoring by Malini.
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