Kiss Kiss Bang Bang...

Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty is back in the news again for her kissing act with Hollywood star Richard Gere at an AIDS awareness event ‘Seena taan ke’ organized for the truck drivers.

The Hollywood star Gere held Shilpa’s hand and kissed it. He hugs her and bends over her and kisses her on her cheeks. No this is not a scene from any stage play or from any Richard Gere’s bollywood flick. The kiss act was a part of an AIDS awareness event organized to highlight the importance of safe sex. This happened when Shilpa appreciated Gere and this Hollywood actor responded it in a style for which he would regret. She giggled “Ye thoda zyada ho gaya tha”(this was a little too much) with an embarrassment.

“An attack on our cultural ethos”, the protesters claimed. In other part of the country, students burnt the effigies of Gere and demanded him to go back from the country. (Did he ever apply for a visa to stay with Shilpa? :P). “Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition”, cries another political party.

The Big brother winner in replying to this issue said, “I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here”. What is this supposed to mean? Did she really think that this is an attack on cultural ethos but she didn’t want to refuse the kisses from People magazine’s Sexiest man Alive (1999) /one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world(1991)?

Shetty tried downplaying the event saying “it was not so obscene”. And finally she made one sensible statement saying “this was not such a big thing for people to over-react in such a manner”. Yes, it is not. After all, we want something else on news channels and newspapers and not your romance with any actors.

Anjali Gopalan, head of Indian Aids prevention group says, “I think he responded as an actor. He was playing to the gallery. I don’t see anything bad”. You are right. This isn’t too bad.

Every news channels had the kissing scenes played regularly and the next day morning all the newspapers carried the picture on their front pages. Are there any sms contests around the country to report the count of the kisses he planted on her cheeks? :P I thought news channels are only to give a minute by minute update on Bollywood’s biggest wedding of the year and the details of bride’s saris and mehndi designs.

But in the end, the fortunate ones were the 4000 truck drivers who were part of this ‘Seena taan ke’ event and also audience for this entertaining show. Lucky you J

World Cup Fever- THE END

Mission-2007, the magic phrase which was a faith and belief of millions on Indians failed miserably when India lost to Srilanka in the world cup first round match. Most of the hearts were broken after Bangladesh won the match against India. It says all about Team India’s performance in this World cup. Three deaths were reported all over the country so far. It was waiting for a chance to get into the second level of tournament depending on another team’s win/loss. How disgraceful it could be? It was a shameful exit to the title favorites and runner-ups last time. The fact remains that a team which boasts to have the best batting line-up in the world couldn’t reach 200 runs against Bangladesh. If Bangladesh had lost to Bermuda, it would have been embarrassing entry for Indian team to the Super 8. Thanks to Bangladesh for winning that match. Luckily we were not in the same pool with Australia or South Africa. Team India would have had a humiliating defeat. There is nothing wrong in the Team selection or the players. This was the team which reached the finals in Johannesburg four years back. So what went wrong this time? Are those Greg Chappell’s experiments? Or the new entries of players like Dhoni or Pathan? No, but it’s a back foot drive of team effort from the players. The confidence in every player was the missing factor. It was very clear in the match against Srilanka where no one had the intention of staying in the middle to have a partnership to score runs.

The fans deserved something better than this. We had every right to demand a victory. At least for the angry fans back at home they should have won the Srilanka match. But none were interested in the game. It would be less if we say that their hard work on modeling and acting in advertisements had taken away their skills in the game.

Here are my opinions on few concerns of the fans:

Should Rahul Dravid continue as Captain?

Yes. He had always done his role perfectly. His role as a captain had no impact on his batting skills where his predecessors failed to do so.

Should Sachin quit?

Yes and No. Yes, he should quit from the one day version of the game before the board drops him. But he should be in the test team as he does play a vital role there.

Did Ganguly do justice to his comeback? Should he be made captain?

Ganguly, since his comeback was more interested in making runs for him and not for the team. No, he should not be considered again for the captain role. We are happy now with what he is scoring.

Should we drop Sehwag?

Yes, definitely. A century once in 3 years and that too against Bermuda isn’t worth a consideration.

Should Dinesh Karthik replace Dhoni?

Yes, we should give more chances to Karthik. We need a player who is more consistent than a player who can hit once in a year.

And last but not of the least concern, should Chappell go?

YES. He made the team worse than what it was before.

Rest all players wouldn’t make much difference if the key players perform their best as they used to.

PS: Now am supporting Australia in this world cup. I don’t want to end up supporting another losing side :-P

Yipppeeeee!!!!

My review on Paruthiveeran got published today. In other words, my first post in merinews.com got approved and published. I am so elated. Thanks to merinews.com editor and other people behind the screen who made this happen. A special thanks to the team who made the corrections and modifications and added the description for the review.

For more details, click here.