Taare Zameen Par - review

Aamir Khan the actor may have few critics, but Aamir Khan the director can have simply no critics! That is, from the evidence provided by his debut directorial venture - Taare Zameen Par. The movie may have its share of flaws - very predictable and definitely quite melodramatic; but what makes it an absolute must-watch and the movie of the year is its honesty. Here is a novel theme involving a dyslexic boy and his travails handled with such panache that it is really difficult to believe that this is Aamir Khan's directorial debut. In short, TZP is all about soul lifting music, uniformly terrific acting(especially by the young star of the movie), slick editing, enjoyably bright screenplay, emotional dialogues and the benchmark for future directorial ventures by Aamir.

Story - surely, you've seen it already!
Performances - Darsheel Safary's acting makes it less of watching a Bollywood movie and more of a 3rd person observation
Rating - 4.5 out of 5..... could have been still better, but then PERFECTION is always elusive so Well done, Mr. Aamir Khan :)

The Sydney Fiasco

If Harry Potter was the biggest ever literary blockbuster & Sholay the biggest ever Bollywood blockbuster, then the 2nd Test match between Australia and India played at Sydney can safely be called the biggest ever Test cricketing blockbuster. 5 full days of sparkling cricket & shocking umpiring later, the Indian team had every reason to feel that they had been done in by Messrs Bucknor & Benson. Staunch Australian fans may still say that the victory margin was more than meagre, & that India failed to hold on to 7 wickets in the last session.

But India found themselves in such a shabby mess largely thanks to the efforts of the umpires, who erred, nay blundered not once or twice but a whole 10 times. And by the way, in a game won by taking 20 wickets, TEN is no small number. Polished and diplomatic hypocrites will insist that umpiring errors are a part and parcel of the game & that these things do even out in the long term; but DO NOT buy their bilge. Let me assure you, if all umpiring errors meted out to Sachin Tendulkar have to be evened out then I will have to stand as an umpire for all his remaining innings! Of course, Sachin was spared this time around but sorry, I couldn't resist that last temptation. Anyways, the crux of the matter is that if the umpiring had been flawless, then the series would have been level & not as it stands now.

However, the real issue over the Sydney test has actually been the ensuing 3 Test ban on Harbhajan Singh for allegedly racially abusing Symmonds. And the fact that 3 Australians on the field - Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist & Michael Clarke were all guilty of appealing for grounded catches vociferously. Infact Ponting went 1 step further by signalling to Ganguly that he was out- for a catch which no technology in the world has been able to prove as remotely clean.

The REAL issue is not these 2 happenings viewed in isolation, but rather their coincidence. Coming to the match refree Mike Procter- he was the same law-man who banned Rashid Latif for 5 test matches without a hearing for claiming a grounded catch when he was Pakistan captain. And the reason given then by our man Procter was that, as captain, Latif's act was a negative influence on his team & the sport. Surely, Ponting's dishonest appeal when he is captain is an absolute parallel. Or, are there different laws for different colours which we laymen do not know of? Which, ironically, makes it tragicomical that the very same law-man who has throughout his career been hinted at as racist should ban Harbhajan for 3 tests on charges of racism. THIS, when neither the 2 onfield umpires, nor Sachin Tendulkar(whose many virtues will be the topic of a future post undoubtedly) nor any video replays from the innumerable camera angles could pick any racially abusive word. Infact, only 2 Australian players on the field(both of whom had shown their lack of scruples just a while earlier) even reported the abuse. Not to forget, the Australians are without doubt the game's worst and most abusive ever sledgers and THAT is no secret!

NOW, if you still blame Indians calling the Aussies 'crybabies' or Mike Procter a ' ******** racist' or umpire Bucknor 'blind as a bat & as insensitive as a toilet seat' of being jingoistic, then YOU REALLY MUST BE AN AUSSIE.

P.S : Lots of Australian sports lovers too have come down heavily against their national cricket team & eminent Aussie cricket writer Peter Roebuck called the series of incidents ' the worst in the history of Australian sport.'
Something to cheer about for us Indian fans, though a victory at Perth would not exactly be unwelcome in these circumstances!