The Chak De Effect

The Indian film industry has more often than not been found wanting for movies with good script, good performances and a surreal level of motivation and inspiration blended into the same flick. Shimit Amin's Chak De India does that and in a brilliant and compelling manner. (A stark difference from his earlier film Ab Tak Chappan) Jaideep Sahani's script is close to flawless and never strays from the main theme of the movie, sports. With excellent screenplay, beautiful cinematography and slick editing the movie scores great in all respects. Even the music score blends in nicely with the theme of the movie, so much so that the title track has almost become the country's new sports anthem. The only sad part is that a movie like "Eklavya" was prefered as the Indian entry for the Oscar's over Chak De India.

That brings me to my main purpose or writing this piece, " The Chak De Effect". You could call it inspiration or just plain coincidence, but what Indian sports has experienced since the release of Chak De India is no less than a miracle. Rarely, if ever, has one seen Indian sports or sportsmen/women excel the way they have in a span of 2 months since the film released. It all started with Team India winning a cricket test series in England after 21 years. May be, just may be, it was the film that provided them the inspiration to cross that final hurdle and make the country proud again. The effect moved on from cricket to football, where no one gave the Indian team a hint of a chance to win the Nehru cup. For a team that has never won the cup the achievement was all the more special.

The effect then came back to the sport the movie was actually based upon, hockey, but this time the heroes were the male counterparts. The Indian National men's hockey team lifted the Asia Cup by beating South Korea 7-2 to finally give hockey lovers in "the land of Dhyanchand" something to cheer about after a troubled couple of years. Although the women's hockey team did not achieve the same feat in their version of the tournament, they did manage a respectable semi-final spot. The victory in hockey was followed by the Indian cricket team winning the T20 world championship in South Africa which was significant not only because of its huge popularity but because we beat a team in the finals with whom we have always been at "war". With Vishwanathan Anand becoming the world's undisputed chess champion again this year after his heroics of 2000, the effect may have touched another sport. (though it is unlikely in this case)

These sportsmen, sportswomen, coaches or teams have never lacked the ability or the skills but at times have lacked the motivation, zest and the never-say-die spirit that have kept them from achieving what they truly deserve. We can only hope that Indian sports continues to take courage from such inspired performances and guns for greater glory in the days to come. All in all what the Chak De Effect teachs is to put one's differences away and inspire individuals to unite for a common cause, be it sports or any other walk of life.

T20: My Take

So India finally had something to cheer about. Beating our "friendly" neighbors in a 3 1/2 hour long battle aided by some inspired performances and by some inspired non-performers. However beating 4 top nations in a cricket world championship (be it the shortest version) is a no mean task. The cricketers are basking in the glory of this victory and so they should, although with one eye firmly on the upcoming series, of what promises to be the most thrilling encounters in recent times, against the Aussies. Dhoni and his boys deserve all the praise and appreciation for this win as it has rekindled the waning flame of cricket in India. Not that I would want other sports in the country to suffer, but lets be honest to ourselves. How many of us actually stayed up to watch India win the final of the men's Asia Cup hockey tournament, or to see the Indian football team beat Syria to lift the Nehru cup for the first time ever. Not many I guess. In a country lacking sports heroes people look up to cricketers as being those unlikely heroes. And hence if successful their accomplishments are cheered more than, at times, what they deserve. But that is all-together a different topic of discussion. Lets get back to cricket and particularly the T20.

A country so reluctant in accepting the T20 version of cricket is suddenly welcoming it with open arms. T20 has impacted the game in a phenomenal way. Increased viewership, shorter duration, extinction of the "underdog" tag, youthful zest and big moolah are some of the biggest impacts T20 has had on the game. T20 is being viewed by most cricket administrators as the future of cricket. The ICL, the Stanford League and even the BCCI formed PCL (along with ECB, ACB and PCB) are all focusing on the T20 format of cricket. However the opinions on the format have been quite evenly polarized. The purists believe that T20 is just a slap-dash form of cricket suited to hard-hitting sloggers rather than the more orthodox and traditional cricketers. They believe that the finer nuances of this highly technical sport is lost in this version. While others disagree saying that the better cricketers will always be consistent no matter what format of cricket they are playing, which to some extent is absolutely true. The T20 World championship proved that you do not need to be an Afridi to score runs. In fact the highest run scorer in the tournament was Matthew Hayden who I consider to be technically one of the most sound and imposing cricketer of the current lot. People have also argued that the bowlers, especially the spinners, have no place in this format.

However with all due respect to everyone for or against this format, here's my take on this. The T20 championship was an enthralling one and a great advertisement for the sport. Many who were never avid followers of the game got engrossed in the nail-biting battles between great teams. But the contest was over in a flash. 27 matches in 14 days and before we knew it, it was over. By the time the tournament entered the last round of super eights I was drawing a blank as to what had happened in the earlier games, barring the schocker for the Aussies and the Indo-Pak bowl-out. To all those detractors, fyi, the spinners bowled as well as the seamers. The good batsmen always got the runs and the pinch-hitters had their moment of glory as well. Fielding in any form of cricket will always remain the most integral part of the game. These events have reinforced my belief that the ability of a true cricketer is a measure of his adaptability to various situations. So whether its Test cricket, ODI's or T20 a good cricketer will always come through. There is just one point that may render a good cricketer, in Tests and to some extent ODI's, impotent in T20, and that is his athleticism. As one grows older his interest and enthusiasm for the game may linger but this body might start withering. But if at 33 a Hussey or a Jayasuriya can be one of the most energetic players of his team, I guess the theory that older people should not play T20 can take a toss out the window.

However the official and players must not get carried away with the instant success of T20. Anything in excess is not good and the same holds true for this format as well. Lets hope the administrators are smart enough not to make this their first choice format for cricket and embed it with the other versions much to the satisfaction of one and all. As the cliche goes, do it for the greater good of cricket and cricket lovers the world over.

Indians and Racism: Who's to Blame?

I know I'm venturing into an issue that is of extremely sensitive nature. However I feel that we as Indians quite often misinterpret the true meaning of the term "racism". Multiple definitions of the term exists as per individual interpretations, however in simplistic terms it means 'a form of discrimination based on race, color or origin .' The discrimination ranges from verbal abuse (direct) to favoritism toward individuals of the same race (indirect).

Lets take a recent classic case of the incident that transpired on the hit British reality show 'Big Brother', where the Indian actress Shilpa Shetty was pelted with some verbal invectives. Thousands of British Indians saw that on national television and condemned it and to a certain extent they were justified in expressing their disapproval of such thoughts. A lot of fuss was made about the specific comments regarding the way she behaved and the way she spoke. I agree the manner of putting those comments may not have been appropriate, but surely comments made on an individual by no means completely reflect racist behavior.

Such comments are taken far too seriously by Indians. If such an opinion is indeed racist then I'm afraid we Indians are the biggest racists of 'em all. When we talk about people of foreign origin, we refer to them as 'goras' meaning 'white people'. We refer to African Americans as 'kallus'. Don't we at times make fun of the way these individuals behave? Why are we so distrustful of 'Blacks' or 'Hispanics'? I am dumbfounded by this question in same way as millions of us are. Forget the indifferent attitude towards these people, we Indians do not even spare our own. Discrimination within different regions, religions and sub-sects of these religions is not uncommon amongst us. Mind you, I'm not generalizing but the truth is out there. Deep within us we all know that every individual has his or her own set of ideas and beliefs which at some point or the other has compelled us to behave in a racist manner.

These questions are difficult to answer, but I'm not searching for the answers. All I'm trying to say is that we should all be a little more considerate. Pointing fingers on individuals who make potentially racist comments is easy, but it is very difficult to refrain one self from acting in a similar manner. Whether its spoken about or not racism is here to stay, so be courageous enough to face it.

Karthik: Grit Personified

If ever there was a need more desperate than the one against the Windies, to put up your hand and justify your selection, Dinesh Karthik did it and proved his mettle all over again. Having India with their back against the wall, the carribean army was marching along nicely, despite the absence of their commander-in-chief (Sir) Brian Lara, towards another dismal display by the Indian batsmen. At 90 odd for the loss of 7 wickets, the Indians must have felt that the ghosts of South Africa had come to haunt them all over again. A score of even 150 seemed a distant dream.

But not for Karthik. Just as he did in the 3rd test against the Proteas, where he was asked to stand in as an opener, Karthik proved what a determined cricketer he is. Given the match situation, the nature of the pitch and India's recent one-day record this was probably one of the best, if not the best, innings he has ever played. The shot selection, the composure and the determination were evident to all. Of-course Ajit Agarkar(40) played a pivotal role by accompanying Karthik and not throwing his wicket away like some of his senior and more experienced players did. He hung in there allowing Karthik to play some heart-warming strokes on his way to a masterful 63.

Another reason why this innings was critical is the selection of the final squad for the upcoming World Cup will be decided soon. Where players like Joginder Sharma and Ramesh Powar failed to show their talent with the bat, Karthik grabbed the opportunity by showing a lot of maturity on this slow and sluggish pitch. Powar however made up for the blip with the bat by bowling a mesmerizing spell of 3 for 42 off his alloted quota of overs. Tendulkar and Harbhajan chipped in with tight spells to keep the Windies in check and despite another fighting knock from Shivnaraine Chanderpaul the Windies were left to gasp at missed opportunities. Perhaps a little more aggression, that Chanderpaul lacked, would have taken them home.

The interesting question now is, what the composition of the Indian team for the remaining two matches will be. With the possibility of Anil Kumble coming back to the side, the most likely candidate to make way seems Joginder Sharma. Considering the fact that there are just 4 games before the final squad for the World Cup is announced, today's performance might put the brakes on his run toward the selection in the final 14. With Yuvraj still recovering from his injury, Pathan trying to get his bearings right again and Sehwag woefully out of form, Dravid's task to find a suitable all-rounded seems cut out. Hopefully the Indian think-tank will come up with some suitable backup or pray for one of these 3 player to get back to their glory days.