Match Makers

(Note: All information is accurate at the time of print. Visit www.iplt20.com for updates.)

April 2, 2011. The ICC World Cup frenzy has reached a crescendo with India and Sri Lanka reaching the finals. The air, rife with comparisons between Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 2011 World Cup winning team and Kapil Dev's 1983 World Cup winning team. The question on everyone's lips - "Will our boys bring the World Cup home after 28 years?" With a resounding YES, the boys in blue - the Indian team - took the proceedings to a tumultous close by winning against Sri Lanka with 10 runs and 6 wickets to spare. The moment was especially poignant for Sachin Tendulkar and his fans as the Little Master's long-standing dream of being part of a World Cup winning team was finally realised.

The noise has hardly died down, and the dust has hardly settled on the ICC World Cup, that Indian cricket fans are now gearing up for IPL Season 4. With 74 matches over 49 days, the fourth season of the Indian Premier League 2011 is expected to be a feast for cricket lovers. Sure, there's nothing quite like Test Cricket, but the IPL this year will be of interest even to the dyed-in-the-wool Test Cricket fan.

The aspect that will significantly alter predictions this is the overhauling of teams. Player auctions, retirements, forced retirements, induction of local talent and the addition of two new teams - are all going to create an upheaval of closely-held beliefs about the talent pool in the 10 teams.

THE CONSERVATIVES

Chennai SuperKings (Winners of IPL-3) and Mumbai Indians (Runners-Up of IPL-3) remained conservative in their team composition. Their focus was on player retention rather than acquisition. This, when CSK is missing Hayden, Badani, Kemp and Ntini from the last season. At the auctions, CSK lost Muthiah Muralitharan and Lakshmipathy Balaji but they've brought in talent such as Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha and Yo Mahesh. Tim Southee, fresh from his 18 wicket haul at the ICC World Cup 2011, replaces Ben Hilfenhaus.

The Mumbai Indians will play this season without Sanath Jayasuriya. At the auctions, Zaheer Khan and Dwayne Bravo were acquired by other teams. But MI has brought in Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Tirumalasetti Suman, Moises Henriques and Munaf Patel.

REBOOT

The teams at the bottom of last year's points table - Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab - had an exodus of players. This may be the best opportunity for them to shed the baggage of the past and induce some vitality.

Kings XIPunjab's emphasis is on getting new players in, not necessarily from other teams, but local talent. The primary acquisition at the auctions was Gilchrist moving in as Captain along with the notable entry of Praveen Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, Ryan Harris and Abhishek Nayar.

Rajasthan Royals has consistently placed emphasis on local players while retaining some of its existing ones. The players brought in at the auction were PaulCollingwood, Rahul Dravid and Ross Taylor. The rest, a healthy mix of retained players and local ones.

STAR POWER

Both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders are teams without their captains from the last season. Will the absence of Kumble and Ganguly work in their favour? Or will one of their star players step up and take on the mantle?

At the auctions, Royal Challengers lost out on Jacque Kallis, Rahul Dravid and Robin Uthappa. But the exodus has been replaced with frantic buying of the likes of AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne, Daniel Vettori, Charl Langeveldt, Mohammed Kaif and Zaheer Khan.

In an interesting twist, the exact strategy has been adopted by Kolkata Knight Riders. No Ajanta Mendis and Chris Gayle. At the auction, Ishant Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik and Brendon McCullum moved out. KKR has now brought in players like Brett Lee, Gambhir, Jacque Kallis, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Yusuf Pathan to fortify the side.

THE D-FACTOR

The Deccan Chargers reached the Semi-final of IPL 3 but lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore. This year, while Laxman and Symonds moved out, DC has gained Sangakkara, Gony, Duminy, and Ishant Sharma. But will the absence of Herschelle Gibbs, Chaminda Vaas, and as we go to print, possibly Kevin Pietersen, make a severe dent in their strategies?

The Delhi Daredevils, on par with Kolkata Knight Riders on the points table last year, seems to be on infusing some freshness in the form of new buys. Sehwag is back in the saddle as Captain after Gambhir and, with the able help of Aaron Finch, Morne Morkel, Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, is all set to lead a team that's hungry to win.

THE NEWBIES

Two spanking new teams and the heady promise of competition! In the absence of track records, expectations from the Indi Commandos Kochi and Sahara Pune Warriors are bound to be more realistic. Secondly, since they've not 'lost' any player to the auctioning, they stand to gain in some of the unlearning that other teams will have to do. Having said that, it would be interesting to see how players from other teams forge new loyalties to deliver the goods.

Between Indi Commandos Kochi and Sahara Pune Warriors, there seems to be a clear strategic difference in player selection. Indi Commandos Kochi are banking heavily on players from other teams - the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Brendon McCullum, Muthiah Muralitharan, Sreesanth, R.P. Singh and VVS Laxman. However, the Sahara Pune Warriors have given equal weightage to local players and those from other teams with the stars being Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Murali Karthik and Robin Uthappa.

At the end of the day, however, the winning of games will be determined not only by how integrated each of the teams will be in the face of competition, but also the talent on display. Some of the most legendary players will be out there rubbing shoulders with hot new local talent. Some very intense cricketing action is about to unfold in the the most cricket-crazy country in the world. As addictions go, it doesn't get better than this.

An edited version was published for a client newsletter designed by Global Adjustments. No part of this article may be reproduced without permission from the author and the publication.

Made in Heaven

“I felt lost in a sea of 11,000 guests! The entire town came to a standstill. The wedding took place in an open ground where something like a movie set was erected. Hostesses wearing mini-skirts, looking like they belonged on a plane rather than at a traditional South Indian wedding, ushered us to our seats. The women guests wore diamond jewellery that paled in comparison to their zari-laden sarees. Everything was big, bright and blingy!” This, from a friend who recently returned from a high-profile wedding in small-town South India.

The mellow modest-budgeted South Indian wedding is now firmly a thing of the past. Say hello to the big fat South Indian wedding with all the glitz of a Bollywood production!

BUDGET

Parents want nothing but the best for their children, and wedding budgets are indeed going through the roof. But a 'sky's the limit' budget doesn't necessarily make the wedding planner's job any easier.

Saraswathi Krishnakumar, who runs a wedding planning company called Event Art with her sister Lakshmi Ravichander says, “What ends up happening is that the client expects the moon but cannot believe it comes at the price it does. If the client has some idea of a budget - any budget - it is a great start point to create an interesting theme.”

But does a big budget necessarily translate to a more interesting wedding? Though admittedly it does cost more to create a theme wedding, Saraswathi says, “Given a budget, any wedding can be made more interesting. The only thing that changes is the scale at which the idea gets translated and the components used. For instance, the budget will determine the flowers that go into the floral decorations as well as the musician invited to perform at the reception. It will not take away from the core idea, though.”

THEME

Saraswathi spoke fondly of one 'Nischayathartham' (engagement) as part of a wedding she had organised. “The entire function was a statement of the family's eco-consciousness. We created a Ganesha out of leaves at the entrance to the venue and the backdrop for the ceremony was also made entirely of leaves. We had lightbulbs inside 'kuruttu' leaf lanterns. We avoided disposable plastic plates and cups, and served typical Tamil food on plantain leaves and coffee in 'tumbler-davara' sets. The return gifts were terracotta items. This also enables us to do our bit for society by sourcing some products from NGOs.”

Krithika was to marry Venkat, she decided to play planner for her own wedding and added a dash of symbolism to the wedding arrangements. “We used the theme of Meenakshi Kalyanam to denote the merger of our two traditions, Iyer and Iyengar. The two symbols we used were green parrot (Meenakshi's symbol) and red lotus (being her brother, Vishnu's symbol).” The invitation was green with a parrot motif. Krithika's wedding saree blouse had parrots embroidered on the sleeve and the immediate family was dressed in greens and reds. The 'thambulam' bags had a Tanjore painting-esque rendering of Meenakshi Kalyanam on them, with Tulsi saplings as return gifts. As for decorations, the florist created a 'thoranam' making extensive use of fresh lotuses suspended from toy parrots. As luck would have it, the wedding venue also had a ready backdrop of Meenakshi Kalyanam!

VENUE

Geeta Vasudevan was clear that when it came to her son's wedding, a claustrophobic wedding hall or star hotel simply wouldn't do. She picked the very ethnic Dakshina Chitra. She says, “I organised everything for Prashant's wedding. Since the bride was Punjabi, we had a Baraat complete with band and horse. It was an al fresco evening reception and a night wedding. Our 800 guests from across India enjoyed a flute and veena concert at the reception where we hosted a buffet with a mix of North and South Indian cuisine. We were surprised that 250 of our guests decided to stay on and be part of the Arya Samaj wedding at 10 p.m. During the actual wedding ceremony, thanks to the serene ambience, the 'mantras' were clearly audible.”

“The venue lends itself so well to the heritage ambience I wanted to create, that we used only twinkling serial lights and floral 'thoranams' to decorate the 'mandapam'.” says Geeta. “We could have easily gone overboard on the decorations, but that would have robbed the place of its beauty.”

OTHER IDEAS

Saraswathi spoke to us of one wedding she organised where the typical Punjabi concept of a Sangeet function was given a new spin. “The clients wanted a pre-wedding party, but the Sangeet concept doesn't really exist in Tiruppur. Instead, we took the spirit of the Sangeet function and customised it.”

“The couple was escorted from the temple to the mandap by traditional Nadaswaram musicians and then by traditional folk dancers. We created a performance with professional 'therukoothu' actors, taking inspiration from a folk song from the old Tamil movie, Navarathri. We kept the tune intact, but used fresh voices and customised the lyrics to incorporate the names of the groom and bride and details of their families.”says Saraswathi.

Just goes to prove that to have a unique and memorable wedding, one need not be limited by budget or convention!

An edited version appeared in TAXI's March 2011 Issue

Pushpak

Language – Silent

Director – Singeetham Srinivasa Rao

Pushpak is a black comedy, that deftly uses background music and symbols to convey meaning in the absence of dialogue. 

In the Ramayana, the Pushpak was a flying machine with the ability to conjure up on offer, all the luxuries of the world. The Pushpak Hotel and its winged halo logo featured in the movie are an allegory for the lavish life on board the mythological flying machine. At another level, the movie explores the fleeting, illusory world of money and the divide between the haves and the have-nots.

An unemployed youth (Kamal Haasan) comes across a millionnaire (Sameer Khakkar) lying in an inebriated state, with a room key of the luxurious Hotel Pushpak in his pocket. The youth decides to steal the millionnaire's identity, leaving him gagged in his own humble room. He moves into the lavish suite of the Hotel Pushpak, and uses the millionnaire's wealth to groom himself in the fashion of the wealthy.

The youth falls in love with a magician's daughter staying at the hotel. The young lovers spend time together and the youth senses with some relief, that the magician's daughter (Amala) does not hanker after his presumed wealth. Meanwhile, a hitman (Tinu Anand) fails in his attempts to kill the youth. The youth realises that the real target is the millionnaire and, decides to investigate. Disillusioned with the material world that gave him wings, he sets things right, finally returning to his own humble life.

Pushpak won the Golden Lotus among the National Awards for the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

An edited version appeared in Culturama's May 2011 Issue.

Parthiban's Dream

Author – Kalki Krishnamurthy, translated by Nirupama Raghavan

Illustrations - N. Bindhu Malini

MRP – Rs. 165

Kalki Krishnamurthy's Parthiban Kanavu (Parthiban's Dream) is a fictionalised account of a period in Tamizh history dominated by four glorious kingdoms - the Cholas, the Pallavas, the Cheras and the Pandiyas.

When the king of the Cholas, Parthiban lies dying on the battlefield, he seeks the help of a Shivanadiyar (Shiva-worshipping ascetic) in ensuring that his dream of a vast and powerful Chola kingdom is realised by his son, Vikraman.

Years later, when Vikraman sets out to conquer the neighbouring Pallava kingdom, he is betrayed by his uncle, Marappa Bhupathi, and captured by Pallava troops. The Pallava princess, Kuntavi falls in love with him and tries to convince her father, the mighty Chakravarthi Narasimha Varman to be lenient in his sentence for the Chola prince. However, Vikraman is exiled to the Shenbaga Islands.

Two years later, when Vikraman returns to the mainland in disguise, he hears that his mother is missing. He endures a series of near-death experiences, and finally, is nursed back to health by Kuntavi. He finds his mother who tells him that the Shivanadiyar aided her escape from a group of Kapala Bhairavars (Kali-worshipping cult), but was himself captured. With the help of Ponnan, a Chola loyal, Vikraman reaches the Kapala Bhairavar hideout. After a daring rescue helped by Pallava allies, the intrigue surrounding the Shivanadiyar is revealed, thereby setting the stage for the realisation of Parthiban's dream.

Parthiban's Dream was translated from the Tamizh original by 15 year old Nirupama Raghavan. Although targeted at young adults, the story, with its vivid portrayal of Tamizh valour, is captivating to all.

An edited version appeared in Culturama's May 2011 Issue