Day 284 - A Magical Week!

One shoots bullets from his fingers, the other caresses cricket balls with his magic wand.  Both are big blockbuster hits this week!

I am just back from watching the Tamil film 'Enthiran' starring Rajinikanth, the ultimate crowd-puller!  Crowd puller he definitely is, not only in India both elsewhere as well.  For instance, he is extremely popular in Japan, of all places!  Coming back to the film itself; it is a special effects extravaganza which keeps you engaged for a little more than 3 hours!  I can safely say that I haven't really seen anything like this in Indian cinema before.  No wonder it is the costliest Indian film ever made, at Rs. 150 crores.  And Rajini, the superstar, does pull in his worth at Rs.45 crores.  Skipped a beat?  Yes, that is exactly how much Rajini was paid for Enthiran, to play the double role of a scientist and a humanoid robot created by himself.  The story itself is very predictable.  However, in my view, the film is doing roaring business (Rs.117 crores in box office collections) because of the following:

1) The Rajini charisma.

2) Superb special effects; probably the best ever seen in Indian cinema.  The last 30 minutes of the film is especially terrific!

3) A stunning Aishwarya Rai; I do not like her much, but in this film she looks fabulous!

All in all, the film does live up to its hype.  Rajini, at the age of 60, is stunning, to say the least. By the way, he is probably the only superstar who has no qualms being himself and being seen with his bald head in real life.  Hats off to Thalaivar!

The Rajini Magic.

The other blockbuster hit this week was India's nail biting, edge of the seat winning effort against Australia in the first test match at Mohali.  Kudos to the magician from Hyderabad.  The man with the most unique initials in the cricketing world is truly Very Very Special.  VVS Laxman played tormentor to the Aussies yet again with his almost run a ball effort which won India the match.  Never one to play the ball under his nose, he used his bat like a wand; scoring runs effortlessly all over the ground, when wickets were falling at the other end.  India at 8 wickets down and still more than 100 runs to get for a win, were a goner.  I had switched off the television at this point of time as well.  3 hours later, I was pleasantly surprised to be informed that Laxman and Ishant Sharma were still at the crease and India were inching towards a victory.  Ishant Sharma scored 31 sterling runs and his effort was equally important as Laxman's.

Laxman, Ishant and the rest of the victorious Indian team celebrate the win.

With the gutsy fightback and holding their nerves during the last few moments, India showed the Aussies why they are ranked the number 1 test team in the world by ICC.  I hope they stay there for a long time.

By the way, the opening ceremony of the CWG games was a huge success!  Some respite from the constant torrent of bad news related to the organisation of the event in Delhi.  And what's more, looks like the Indian contingent is winning medals galore, a lot of them golds. 

Hope we continue to do well and erase the bad memories in the run up to these games.

Take care.