Influence of Great Cricketers and Actors Spurs Wins

19 May 2008

Past week had been one of the most boring weeks since I have started writing this series. There were no major Telugu film releases and also the IPL matches had rarely witnessed a close finish with most of the matches being totally one-sided and couple of them decided by D/L method. Even the much hyped Hindi flick 'Jannat' which was made with the backdrop of cricket mafia did not make any lasting impression on me. Though the movie as a love story gets pass marks with his best performance as of yet by Emraan Hashmi there was no clarity about 'Arjun Dixit' character he played in the movie. He starts of as a gambler who enjoys the tension between ‘Haarne Kaa Dar and Jeethne Ki Ummeed’ (Fear of losing and prospect of Winning) and gets caught in the cobweb of match fixing feeling ‘cricketers aur prostitues main kuch zyaada farakh nahin hotha hai. Jawaani khatam toh kahaani bhee khatam’ (There isn't much of a difference between prostitutes and cricketers. When your youth is gone, the story is finished).

In my opinion Gambling is an addiction where as match fixing is greed. They are like apples and oranges and you can not compare them. You can rehabilitate addicts and there are institutions too, but Greed can not be treated and you have many examples in every walk of our lives let it be Sports, Business, Politics or for that matter Film Making.

Coming back to the movie Jannat – In Search of Heaven, The love track between Sonali Chauhan and Emraan Hashmi is good but it becomes very predictable once Emraan enters the mafia world. At times it also gets stretched a lot making the audiences feel for more of cricket mafia related scenes which are very few and far between. Of course there were innuendos at some of the match-fixing incidents including Bob Woolmer’s death during the world cup. The cricket match that Kunal Deshmukh chose to show the intuitions of Emraan Hashmi and introduces him to the Cricket Betting which then leads to becoming a bookie and then finally in to the world of match-fixing , I feel is one of the greatest One Day Wins in the history of Indian Cricket and it really fits in to the world of betting very well as all hopes were lost when India lost 5 wickets for 146 while chasing England’s 325 for 5. That match announced the arrival of Mohd Kaif and Yuvraj Singh to the World and also became famous for Ganguly’s Salman Khan style antics. Except that there was no real cricket has been shown or referenced in the movie.

TV Cricket Anchors Vishal Malhotra and Sameer Kochchar played important roles and did well. Vipin Sharma did justice to his role of concerned father of Emraan Hashmi, But full marks should be given Sonali Chauhan who did really well. She has already bagged the heroine’s role beside Rahul (Tyson of Happy Days) in VN Aditya’s upcoming movie 'Rainbow'. With her good looks and histrionics she no doubt will be noticed by other producers, directors as well as heroes and will add more movies to her resume. The Love thread of the ‘Jannat’ could have been very well suited any mafia/gang that indulges in crimes such as match fixing and if one enters into it then you may have to flourish or vanish there itself. There were several such movies back in late 80s and early 90s including Mahesh Bhatt’s 'Naam' which tells it’s a one way in to the crime world whereas the same message was sent across in more words in ‘Jannat’ by Javed Sheikh’s character as ‘its only incoming and no outgoing’ in the world of cricket mafia. There are couple of melodious songs ‘Zara Sa' and 'Jannat Jahan’ composed by Pritam which are well picturized too.

While watching the movie I could not help thinking about Sanath Jayasuria and Shane Warne when the dialogue I referred above regarding Cricketers career lasting as long as they are young. Two of the best performing players in the IPL have past their prime time long back but still defies the logic of Jannat’s Arjun Dixit as they set example to players who are not even as old as their career spans. Jayasuria in spite of being the oldest cricketer in the IPL helped the Mumbai Indians register six consecutive wins, more than anybody else in the league and Shane Warne 75 days younger to Jayasuria now leads the table for the top wicket takers in the league.

Another point I would like to add here is what an impact the presence of legendary figure makes. Ever since the 'Little Master' Tendulkar returned back into the Mumbai Indian’s playing eleven they have not lost a single match. He did not score many runs and have not contributed a whole lot in these wins, but his mere presence in the team itself made others to raise the bar and perform to their best. Sanath Jayasuria, Shaun Pollock and Dwayne Bravo have all put up superlative performances ever since Tendulkar took over the reigns of captaincy. After making a disastrous start to their campaign with four losses in a row and losing Harbhajan Singh from the side on disciplinary ground, Mumbai Indians now can shoot for a berth in the semi-finals.

This phenomenon is not only true in Cricket but also very much prevalent everywhere else, especially in my other favorite pastime films. Nana Patekar made Anil Kapoor look awesome in ‘Parinda’ , Dilip Kumar did same to Jackie Shroff, Naseeruddin Shah and Anil Kapoor in ‘Karma’. Naseeruddin Shah’s presence too made Aamir Khan look a real life ACP in ‘ Sarfarosh’ . In our own present day Tollywood, how many times Prakash Raj’s presence in a movie elevated the performances of other Actors bringing them accolades from all sections of the audience and critics as well in addition to bringing them awards and more importantly what matters most – i.e., box-office rewards.

Cricket and Cinema: My passion and obsession:
.• The Story of two halves in Cricket and Cinema
.• Allu Arjun’s Top Class and Rajasthan Royals Top of the table performances
.• Style and Substance
.• Krazzy 4 IPL
.• JALSA on Celluloid and on Cricket minefield
.• Cricket and Cinema connections

About Vijay Jeedigunta: Vijay Saradhi Jeedigunta is a great fan of Cinema and Cricket and follows them as passoinately as any other Indian in spite of living in US for last 14 years. He Lived in Hyderabad,Graduated from Osmania in Electrical Engg and worked for Allwyn and Dr. Reddy's Labs before moving to USA in 1994. Before going to US he worked on some Doordarshan Documentaries and won the best TV Reviewer award for his Eenadu column called 'Cinnithera Chidvilasam'. He also had small stints as All India Radio's Official Statistician for Reliance Cup and some ODIs and Test matches. He was also a frequent contributor to Deccan Chronicle in their weekly sports page. He lives in Bridgewater, NJ with his wife and children. Currenlty employed by IBM as Managing consultant, he spends his spare time writing for dreamcricket.com. He also participates in a weekly radio show on cricket for EBCRADIO (1170 AM) in New Jersey. To know more about him you can visit his profile on orkut at http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=15920368379975419443 and his cricket blog http://cricketestats.blogspot.com You can send all your inquiries and suggestions to [email protected]