IPL5 – Eliminator, Playoffs and Finals
Saved us from batting longer, but for ?!?!?!?!
I won’t bowl, if they hit me!!!
Its all a familiar story for Mumbai Indians. Assemble a team that can give anybody a run for their money, storm through or get through the league stages comfortably and then falter at knockout games. When they got 2 wickets in consecutive balls in the second over of the eliminator match against Chennai Super Kings they might have thought this is their year. But CSK had other ideas which included destroying Malinga. With their best bowler taken to cleaners, their captain shunning of his responsibilities by bowling just 3 overs it’s upto their batsmen to chase down a mammoth 187 runs scored by CSK. Response, as sound as it has given lost its hertz once Dwayne Smith got out after giving an explosive start. For strange reasons they hold back their best batsmen like Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu, maybe for playoff or final, but whatever it is, it backfired big time and they lost once again to go home. While it’s apparent to many that their problem was their batting order, the men who associated with them doesn’t seem to get it.
Got it wrong, everything they can!!!
After topping the league in style, it’s Delhi Daredevil’s chance to put themselves into final for first time but all they could manage was fluffing it in the first game against Kolkatta Knight Riders with a under par batting performance and then with stunning exclusion of Morne Morkel against Chennai Super Kings. Their two batting heavyweights Sehwag and Warner didn’t got going in both the games which increased the pressure on the middle order which wasn’t tested till the very last stages of league. It proved decisive. The decision of leaving out Morne Morkel in favor of all-rounder Andre Russell, how logical it may sound was big mistake made by DD as their bowlers were without a leader and they were taken apart. With failings on batting, bowling, and strategy-wise at knockout stages they weren’t deserved to win and they didn’t.
Got everything right!!! Lost it by a whisker in final!!!
Many called it unfair and luck when Chennai Super Kings got into the top four but for sure not now. No other team who were in contention with CSK for the fourth place could have done better. CSK have put in performances in all 3 knockout games which was worthy of a winning one but narrowly missed it in the final game. All their players like Hussey, Vijay, Dhoni, Badrinath and Raina who were quiet till the league games started to explode which could be seen in the team scores like 187, 222 and 191 all which could be defended. They trusted their players, got their tactics spot on and fielded well. When they lost 2 early wickets in the eliminator match against MI they didn’t panic instead sent their anchor man Badri to join Hussey to repair the innings which they did with aplomb and then its all CSK till the finals where they lost to KKR by a smaller margin. Dhoni could have tried Jadeja for couple of overs in the final as Bravo was off-colour but it has been done and dusted. They should be proud with what they have done.
Well played!!! Worthy Champions!!!
Kolkatta Kinght Riders after a rather poor start to the tournament got themselves up and running which placed them as champions. Riding on the outstanding skill and form of 2 players Gambhir and Narine till the league stages, their underperformed players like Yusuf Pathan, Kallis, and Bisla contributed heavily in the knockout stages to come out as winners. Yusuf Pathan reminded everyone the difference he can make to a good and modest score in the playoff match against DD which proved crucial in the outcome of the match. If Balaji has not injured, Bisla wouldn’t have got a place in the team and if he hadn’t played who knows what the outcome of the final could have been. Manvinder Bisla had always played short burst innings very well for a long time and he couldn’t chosen a better game to show how dangerous he can be when he scores big. With 191 runs to chase it needed somebody to play a knock which should be fast and steady. He turned himself on for that. There were contributions from all the players during their chase and they ended up as worthy champions after chasing down 191. They have formed a new team during last auction; they came near last time and now they nailed it in some style. Well done KKR!!!!
IPL5 – At the end of league stage – Part II
It’s time to check the top 4 of the IPL.
Its looks like even if Chennai Super Kings doesn’t want to be in the play offs, the other teams does need them. When CSK finished their last match, along with CSK 3 other teams were in contention for play offs and lot of results were required to go in their way to make the top 4. Call it destiny or fixing, CSK got there. When a team which requires its last match should be a victory to stay alive in the competition they are expected to produce a performance of life. But what CSK has shown against KXIP in the last game baffled everyone. None of their star players like Raina, Ashwin and Dhoni who performed in the previous editions of IPL performed this time. Faf du Plessis singlehandedly managed the top order of CSK till the arrival of Mike Hussey, Bravo, if not spectacular proved effective as all-rounder and Albie Morkel who with his power hitting won few matches in which CSK has no business of winning.
Will I ever get rest?!?!?!?!?!
CSK’s strength is always being a collective force and again they get through to play offs with little contribution from every player. But if their star players do perform it will do no harm. It will be interesting to see how they handle the fit Faf du Plessis and Mike Hussey in the same XI with both being successful as opening batsman with M Vijay taking the other slot. Their first XI have settled look which is a fantastic for them but few of their players really need to step up their game to see CSK in finals.
Mumbai Indians always had a team which can compete with any international T20 team. This time too when they started with a dominating win against CSK I thought, like previous 2 IPL editions there is no stopping them. But unfortunately for them Sachin was injured for initial 5-6 games and their batting line-up was wobbling. The collective effort from the team has put them in the 3rd place in the league. The return of Sachin from injury stabilized their batting to some extent and their bowlers except for Malinga were inconsistent. Munaf though started the tournament brightly found himself sorted out by the opposition players and taken to cleaners. RP Singh showed some of his skills which reminded us his earlier promise but couldn’t deliver on regular basis. Harbhajan Singh still not concerned about picking wickets which caused his exit from Indian team. Kieron Pollard having a mixed tournament till now and MI will be hoping that he comes good in the play offs.
Not as dominant as they expected to be!!!
They will be hoping once again their collective effort will take them through to finals. They have batsmen like Sachin, Rohit, Dwayne Smith, Pollard and Rayudu who can single handedly win matches. But their inconsistent form is the worrisome factor for them. Dwayne Smith signing when the tournament in progress proved to be an astute one as he won matches from no hope situation and seems to perform as opener in play-offs which was the real problem area for MI. If that move comes off then there is no stopping MI.
Kolkata Knight Riders riding on the bulk of runs scored by their skipper Gambhir finished at the 2nd position. The other player who performed as effectively as Gambhir but gone unnoticed was Sunil Narine. With his mystery yet to be unlocked, batsmen found really hard to find the kind of delivery he bowls. Watching his spin bowling is a joy too. Kallis and McCullum has a very average tournament by any standards and those are the only batsmen who supported Gambhir. Rajat Bhatia and L Blalaji chipped in with useful contribution with the ball. With half of the team not performing at required level it’s a credit to Gambhir’s captaincy that they finished 2nd. Yusuf Pathan still not able to sort out his problems and Manoj Tiwary didn’t done enough to mention him.
Two stalwarts
KKR hopes hinges on the form of Gambhir and Narine. If they both have a great day rest of the players can breathe easy as they have done for most of the matches in this season. Gambhir will be expecting some of his players to step up which will push KKR to their first ever IPL final.
Delhi Daredevils Bull Run which started with the Sehwag’s return to form and Morne Morkel’s blistering pace placed them at the perch of the points table. We have seen what an in-form Sehwag brings to the team. He scored fifties after fifties which mostly results in wins and DD placed themselves at the top. Pietersen too played an important part and as if it is planned earlier once he left Warner came into team making sure there is no letting off for opposition. They proved that seam attack is not something which fails in Indian pitches. They have the fastest Indian bowlers like Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav along with Morne Morkel who all proved effective.
Blazing away!!!!
They will hope their top order continues to fire as their middle order is yet to be tested seriously. Ross Taylor in the penultimate match against RCB has shown that he didn’t forget his swipes to midwicket or square leg which will be encouraging for them. But Morkel after a great start now looks like burnt out. DD needs him to be at his best to clinch the title. They have all the ingredients to win the title for the first time. Will they?
Play offs:
This is just a small explanation about the play offs instead of semi-finals which is implemented in IPL.
While the semifinal is just 2 matches play-offs consist of 3 matches.
1st Play off – Ist Place Vs IInd place à Winner of this match goes straight to final.
Eliminator – IIIrd place Vs IVth place à Loser of this match goes out of tournament.
2nd Play off – Loser of 1st play off Vs Winner of Eliminator match.
I like this method as it does plays some advantage to the table toppers for all the efforts they put in the league.
IPL5 – At the end of league stage – Part I
The league stage concluded today with number of CSK fans doubled up as DC’s fans and prayed for DC’s victory which eventually happened. The 4 teams in the fray for play-offs are Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
Here we go!!!!
The trend of this IPL is, one player carrying their team. Gautam Gambhir almost carried whole of KKR’s batting, Sehwag put up performances which put Delhi in a command from the start, Cameron White saving the Deccan Chargers from mediocrity and Gayle who stands tall among this list with his consistent monstrous hitting for RCB. Hitting sixes were as normal as defending the ball for him. For hitting sixes, NO ONE HAS DONE IT LIKE GAYLE. It’s a pity we won’t see him in the play offs.
At the start of the league it seemed like Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors have shrugged off their
Victory roars, few and far!!!
indifferent form of last year and found the winning touch. But they didn’t, with Pune Warriors hitting the lowest end of the table with some of the most insipid performances where they didn’t even put up a fight. Their batting never took off with no player showed form and they couldn’t find right bowling combination even though had some of good T20 bowlers. If 2 bowlers were containing, the other 3 were generous enough to leak runs and never they able to put in collective performance. Even their best player Steven Smith who put in some great performances at the start of the season looked disinterested towards the end which sums up their campaign. Much of this blame can be put on their captain Sourav Ganguly who couldn’t find a way to put up their best XI.
Never expected to be so gloomy
Rajasthan Royals after a high flying start floundered at the end. Even the arrival of Shane Watson, their star player, couldn’t change their fortunes though he played some good innings. Shaun Tait was kept fresh for the fag end of the tournament which was a good idea but at times he went wayward and RR paid the price. Rahane couldn’t continue with his form and other batsmen couldn’t step up which proved decisive in the RR’s failed campaign.
If not for us!!!
Deccan chargers almost had a perfect failed tournament. They batting never clicked collectively, their bowling, save Steyn, at best pedestrian and their fielding which defined ‘how not to field’ rounds up their campaign. After a very quiet start to the tournament, Cameron White suddenly unleashed himself and played some blinders which won matches for his team. Steyn except for a match against RCB was consistent and looked like only bowler threatening the opposition from DC camp. Duminy and Shikhar Dhawan stepped in with few good performances but unless they find a good crop of Indian players and few foreign players they can’t be top 4 anytime soon.
At 37, WHAT A MAN!!!
Kings XI Punjab looked like the most depleted squad in IPL but yet they were in the contention for play offs till the end of their last match which speaks volume about the way they punched above their weight. Gilchrist’s injury was blessing in disguise as it allowed them to field an international player who can perform consistently. The promotion of Mandeep Singh proved fruitful and it compensated for the lack of form of Shaun Marsh who struggled throughout the tournament to get going. Azhar Mahmood’s contribution to their stunning return to life can’t be undermined as he was economical for most of the matched and played good cameos with bat. David Hussey ably led the side and also chipped in with batting performances which kept them alive in the tournament. This is a successful tournament for them considering the quality of the players they had and no harm will be done if they sign some better players for next season.
Deadly spin duo, not able to operate in same XI
No team is as much depend upon on one man as RCB depend on Gayle. If not for him they might be finding themselves at the bottom of the table. Gayle along with AB De Villiers and Muralitharan kept the hopes of top four alive for RCB till their last match. With a batting line-up that was brittle due to the loss of form of Kohli they couldn’t effectively use AB De Villiers as he found himself mostly at No.5 or No.6 with very less number of balls to play. Dilshan shown glimpses of his batting but he is not the force he once was and Kohli never touched the half heights of heroics he has shown in Indian colours. In bowling Zaheer and Muralidharan have done a half decent job with none of the other bowlers done anything of note. Vettori was said to be injured but it seemed like a plan to accommodate Muralidharan in the line-up who looked more incisive than Vettori but they could have been more effective with both of them on the field leaving Dilshan out. But Kohli and Saurabh tiwary’s patchy form never allowed them to have that luxury and they could get only 5th position in the league.
- To be Continued…
IPL5 – April 16th to April 23rd
Note: I am not able to put the results now DI. I will add them by tomorrow and let you know. Sorry for not able to give it in time.
Scheduling of the IPL matches are very pathetic with 2 teams facing each other 2 times in a couple of days. This literally takes out the excitement of league as the teams will be running in different forms during their first half and second half of tournament. Hope the schedule will be better next time.
IPL this week produced some real close finishes and more entertainment. While Deccan Chargers were yet to open their winning account other teams just trying to hold on to their form but it doesn’t proved to be fruitful. Points table is now crowded with 6 teams at 8 points with Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab not far behind with 6 points.
With ‘Flop team of the week’ tag can be easily bestowed on Deccan Chargers it will be really difficult to find the top team of the week as every team has lost as much as they won. Deccan Chargers have a fairly decent team and a better squad than KXIP but still they are unable to find a win due to their finding ways to put themselves into defeat. At times, their team selection is also baffling leaving out Daniel Christian for out-of-form and out-of-sorts Cameron White. It has been more than a year since I have seen any meaningful contribution from him. Dale Steyn bowling superbly but T20 isn’t a bowler’s game unfortunately.
Mumbai Indians should be a happier bunch with the return of Sachin but the Malinga’s injury took away any such joy. Without Malinga MI’s bowling loses its threatening potential. Even though they have good bowlers in Munaf Patel, Ojha and Harbhajan they can be carted by batsmen during death overs. They lost their match against KXIP which they should have won. Tough times ahead for them as their batsmen are not firing collectively and injury to Malinga.
Mr.Consistent
Kings XI Punjab with their wafer thin squad able to conjure up 3 wins from 7 matches. With the kind of team they have we can’t even say they are underdogs against some top teams. They seemed to fetch the initiative against RCB while defending the total of 163 with 3 quick wickets only for Gayle to finish the match in style. They redeemed themselves against MI with Marsh slowly coming back to form. Parvinder Awana, an Indian bowler came from nowhere and bowled impressively in their last 2 matches. Much of Kings XI Punjab’s hope to compete will hinge on Marsh and if he delivers they can surprise any team.
Gayle storm is yet to hit the full force but the glimpses of it announces danger to other teams with AB de Villiers joining the party. Against Pune Warriors RCB seemed down and out only for Gayle to revive the hopes (the highlight being 5 sixes in a row) and de Villiers providing the final touch. They won their match against KXIP too with another masterful batting from Gayle and de Villiers. Yesterday they won against string Rajasthan Royals with Dilshan and AB de Villiers producing some great batting display. After Gayle, Dilshan and De Villiers also started to contribute in batting for RCB. If Kohli joins them then opposition bowlers will have plenty to think about. But their bowling is pretty much toothless and if their batting have an off day they can very much think about next match quickly.
Catch me if you can!!
Pune Warriors redeemed themselves in this edition of IPL after some good showing with both bat and ball. Under the leadership of Ganguly they seemed to be transformed and ready to fight. They lost their match against RCB which they should have won but won the match against Delhi Daredevils which they could have lost. Ryder started to look like a player to watch, Steven Smith providing some fireworks at the end and Ganguly stunned everyone with his Man of the match display against DD. He isn’t fluent with the bat yet but yet shown that he can ably contribute on the field with his bowling display. Alfonso Thomas provided the required impetus in the bowling against DD and if Pune can sort out their middle order they can challenge for the title easily.
Delhi Daredevils started with a bull run to the tournament on the back of their impressive bowling displays and started to show their prowess with bat too. Kevin Pietersen is literally dominating the bowling and Sehwag started to find his batting form. If these 2 combine then the opposition can forget about winning the game. Unlike other teams they have seam attack in Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron and till now they didn’t disappointed. Nadeem, an unknown left arm spinner started to show his value. Against PWI they lost their way after very much in the game but they will look forward to correct it. They look like the team to beat in this IPL season.
Lone Knight!!!
Kolkata Knight Riders slowly picking up their form but still they are not able to find the perfect combination for their team yet. With the inclusion of Brendon McCullum they lose stability at the top which is very much needed as they have a misfiring middle order. Kallis doesn’t look like the player of the last season, with him not able to significantly contribute with both bat and the ball. Gambhir taking most of the responsibility and he will need his team to step up. They should use the services of Shakib ul Hassan and Ten doeschate’s well. Last week they won both their matches but they came against DC and KXIP. If they get their team right, they can easily win against any team. Will they?
Chennai Super Kings started to show their efficiency with the performances which are not flashy but yet resulting in wins. They won against both PWI and RR and most importantly they found a decent seam bowling attack which includes Kulasekara. Death overs provided the problem for CSK with their bowlers going for runs and in Kulasekara they found a solution temporarily. Albie Morkel went to South Africa last week to attend his friend’s funeral and joined back the team now. Doug Bollinger, who has been inconsistent in this season, should make way for him. They slowly starting to dominate and if they continue they may become unbeatable.
Should get back to their best!!
Rajasthan Royals after a very bright start starting to lose. They lost against CSK and RCB consecutively with their bowling attack suddenly looking toothless and their unsorted batting lineup makes it easier for the opposition. For some strange reasons Brad Hodge wasn’t promoted higher up in the lineup. He is an experienced batsman and will make valuable runs for them. Their bowlers Amit Singh, Sidharth Trivedi and Kevon Cooper who looked in great form initially started to leak runs. Their batsmen still in goo touch with Dravid too slowly getting back to the groove. They need to step up their bowling and use Hodge’s services more effectively to win the matches.
Points table (As of 25/04/12):
| Date | Teams | Result |
| 16-04-2012 | Mumbai Indians v Delhi Daredevils | Delhi won |
| 17-04-2012 | Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers | Rajasthan Royals won |
| 17-04-2012 | Royal Challengers Bangalore v Pune Warriors | RCB won |
| 18-04-2012 | Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders | KKR won |
| 19-04-2012 | Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers | Delhi won |
| 19-04-2012 | Chennai Super Kings v Pune Warriors | CSK won |
| 20-04-2012 | Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers Bangalore | RCB won |
| 21-04-2012 | Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals | CSK won |
| 21-04-2012 | Delhi Daredevils v Pune Warriors | Pune won |
| 22-04-2012 | Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab | KXIP won |
| 22-04-2012 | Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders | KKR won |
| 23-04-2012 | Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers Bangalore | RCB won |
IPL5 – from April 4 to April 15
Note: I will be writing my views on ongoing IPL as one article/week. Mostly it will come on Monday.
Out of all the IPLs happened before, this one, IPL5, doesn’t seems to throw any surprise to us. In the first IPL it was the stunning performance of the Rajasthan Royals which also thrown up many Indian players striking ability. Second IPL was a sort of redemption with the previous IPL’s bottom 2 teams Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers meeting in the final which was eventually won by DC. Chennai Super Kings were the success story of IPL3 who at one point of time looked to go out in the league stage itself. Mumbai Indians atlast matched their ability with the performance on the field only to loss the momentum at the final stages of the tournament. IPL4 was remembered for CSK, a team for the first time defending its crown and the big hitting Chris Gayle who pulled single handedly RCB to finals.
Most disappointing thing for me in this IPL is, no new Indian players are showing their ability. There were lot of Indian players who has shown such a promise during earlier IPLs not even doing half of what they have shown. Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary who were the stalwarts of the Mumbai Indians 2 seasons ago looking lost now. Yusuf Pathan seems like he forget the art of how to swing the bat. Iqbal Abdulla is not the bowler we have seen last time. Paul Valthaty is failing big time.
A treat to watch him bat!!!
Only Rahane has shown what he is capable of but he is already an international player. It is such lovely sight to see this young man scoring without fuss. His shots were proper and he reduces the risk of getting dismissed by the kind of shots he plays. Hope the selectors noticing this and gives a chance to this guy instead of other pathetic Indian batsmen.
One thing I like about this IPL is, Dada and Dravid captaining very well. I am such an ardent fan of Dada and it was so nice to see him on the field making those field changes which works all the time. Being away from the attention and glamour of KKR, he seems to be relaxed and more confident in managing this team. He handpicked Samuels, Dinda, Steven Smith and some more players by himself which makes the core of the team. You know he is the same man who picked Sehwag, Kaif and Yuvraj. Surely Pune Warriors starting to look like the team to beat with some great bowling resources and decent batting strength.
Dravid isn’t far behind. He is slowly building a legacy of his own at Rajasthan Royals after the miracle work done by Warne. This season RR looking like a team of first season which posts big totals and testing the opposition with tricky medium pacers. They have now found new Yusuf Pathan in Owais Shah who seems to hit six at will. Where you have been all this time Shah???? Better late than never!!! Both PW and RR looking like going to semis.
Mumbai Indians as much strong as they can be, they have shown they need the calm presence of Sachin at the top of the order. Without him at the top, all the batsmen doesn’t know what exactly they need to do and eventually losing their heads. If Sachin doesn’t return soon we can write off MI this season.
Chennai Super Kings looking like the best team on paper but on the field their bowling is pretty much poor with the star performers Ashwin and Bollinger going for runs every other day. Batting looks good but with the firepower available in the team they can easily put 20+ runs to what they are scoring now. The line-up needs tweak according to the state of the match. The top order looks brittle with M Vijay awfullt out of form. But Hussey will join the team soon and I wish Badri is promoted up the order to partner du Plessis who is doing well at the moment. CSK for sure will pick their form soon and I expect them to be in semis.
Delhi Daredevils after a period of lull starting to look like a good team with various pace bowling options and big hitters. They are very weak in slow bowling options which could hurt them during later stages of the tournament. With the batsman like Sehwag, Pietersen and Jayawardane no score will be out of their reach. They are the dark horses for semis.
He is looking like the ghost of what he was at RR
Kolkata Knight Riders have the problem of plenty with lot of international players. Their Indian players are also good enough but they are not able to find the best combination. One thing that works in their favor is their home ground pitch turning square and they have high quality bowlers to exploit it. They also have a top heavy batting line-up and unless Yusuf Pathan comes back to form it will be really difficult for them to get going in the tournament. But sadly, Yusuf hasn’t shown any signs of form till now.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has been poor during when last IPL started and they are again finding it rough this term. Last time its all depended on one man Gayle and this time there is no change in it only that Gayle is struggling for his fitness. Kohli is yet to show his heroics in RCB colours and AB de Villiers is yet to show his class. They don’t have a strong bowling attack except for Vettori and Muralidharan and the team balance is bad. Mayank Agarwal showing some promises with the bat but if Gayle and Kohli doesn’t play at their best this will be a forgetful tournament for RCB.
This year the wooden spoon contenders will be Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab. Both have a very weak squad with pretty much half the players in the XI are of mediocre quality. They can win one or two matches here and there and both teams have the enough quality to finish last. It will be an interesting battle!!!
Certain Semi-finalists: PW, RR
2 out of 3 candidates for Semis: MI, CSK and DD
As I pass by – 15/04/12
All gone wrong:
When I started to blog again by last month I decided to post at least 2 posts per week. All gone to the plan during first week only to get completely messed from second week with my PC’s monitor failing, getting drowned in the work in office, Hyderabad trip happening… Well, that’s how my plans go all the time.
Well, monitor is now back so as my work in office got almost completed. Posts of Hyderabad trip coming up soon 
And I am really sorry for not commenting on your posts. Even though I read the posts in my mobile I couldn’t properly with them 
Hopefully will catch up with all the posts.
IPL 5:
Next season of IPL has started and players and BCCI will hope that test series debacles in England and Australia will be forgotten by this high profile(???) tournament. But I don’t think how exciting this tournament can get, it won’t erase those humiliations.
This season has started with lot of one sided matches and now started to slowly picking the tempo with teams picking up their players well and getting into T20 mode.
Dravid’s retirement:
One of the true servants of Indian cricket and member of the league of EXTRAORDINARY gentleman called it’s a day in international cricket. For Dravid, all I have is my respect. If you ask me the greatest achievement of him, I will say from a very technically sound player who can’t score runs at a brisk pace, he become the fulcrum of the Indian ODI. That’s the biggest achievement of him. Oh, he even holds the Indian record for fastest 50 along with Ajit Agarkar. Crazy 
I should have written a tribute and planned to write also. But you all know the way plans go with me, don’t you??
Back to read:
After quite some time I have finished a novel completely. Its ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’. A very interesting book which deals with a girl who was mysteriously died in the Vanger family. There is another sub plot too. But don’t even bother about it It’s bland.
Each and every character in the book was well etched with the heroine was not a very normal woman we have seen in movies or other books. She is ‘one-of-a-kind’. I will write my complete thoughts about the book after watching the movies based on this book.
Dark Fantasy:
Its not some fiction novel. Its a newly introduced series of biscuits by Sunfeast group which just blown me away. It has got real taste and in quality I can say it is world class. I have tasted 3 types in them… Vanilla, Chocolate and the chocofils. Chocofils is the best of the lot and the packing itself tells how serious the makers are serious about this biscuit.
Image courtesy: http://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/
Inside the box each biscuit is wrapped in a cover. Instead of chocolate cream between 2 biscuits, in this one the chocolate cream is inside one single biscuit and it retains its moisture, which is the most amazing thing. The cream has a fresh feel to it. Each biscuits costs 5 rupees and I can say every paise spent on it will be worthy. Thanks to whoever behind this biscuit in sunfeast group.
Never in my life I have recommended a biscuit to many people. But this one blown me away. Have a bite!!!!
A song:
This is a real good melody from the movie ‘Deiva thirumagal’ but more so I like it for its real beautiful picturization. Very beautiful.
Kadhalil Sodhapuvadu Eppadi? – [2012] – Tamil
Whenever I see a romantic comedy movie in English, a thought always comes to mind, ‘Why we never make such funny romantic movies? Else are we too serious when discuss about love?’ Well the answer is, after watching ‘Kadhalil Sodhappuvadu Eppadi?’ (How to mess up in love?) I understood love here is as much fun as there in west only the Indian filmmakers have forgotten to see the funny face of it.
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Story? What story? These kinds of movies need the intelligent screenplay and dialogues that will make us to sit and laugh. Well if you still ask… Here it is:
Arun and Parvathy were studying in a college and by the gradual interaction they fall in love. But ego clashes were coming up with each other hanging on to their priorities in life and not on to their relationship which threatens break their relationship. How they fall in love, breaking up and again comes together forms the story.
Story is nothing to be excited but it’s the presentation which makes this more than watchable. Director has intelligently woven 3 more love stories around the love of Arun and Parvathy each is completely different from the other one. One love deals about a guy so shy but loves a girl who is already in love with his college senior, Other one deals with a girl who broke up with a guy and falls in love with one of his friends and the last one being the 40+ year olds applied for divorce understanding each other characters and again being together.
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Acting is neat from the lead actors and it was the friends around them bring huge laughter with every expression. The parents of the lead characters are behaving in a normal way unlike in some masala movies where they will make them look like foolish.
Dialogues are so sharp, witty and natural that will make us laugh throughout. A sample below:
Girl: Nee epovavathu en kita poi solli irukiya? (Did you ever lied to me?)
Boy: Perusa illa. Summa chinna chinnatha.. kelambrathuku munnadiye kelambiten anda mathiri solli irukken. (Not anything big. Some small ones like I have said I started before even starting like that)
Girl: Inimel anda chinna chinna poi kooda sollada. (Hereafter don’t say those lies too.)
Boy: ok.
Girl: Inda salwar la naan epdi iruken? (How am I looking in this Salwar?)
Boy: Nalla illa. (Not good)
Girl slaps and goes away.
There are numerous scenes like this. Another strong point of this movie is, all the happenings on screen are something happens to everyone. We can easily relate to it.
When I finished watching this movie I felt lighter and relaxed something not offered by any movie I watched. Only drawback of the movie is the music is not upto the mark. Even though they sync with the movie there is no special in it.
All I can say is, go for it and enjoy.
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Director of this movie Mr. R. Balaji has already directed a short film under the same title and you can watch it below to check out how the movie will be. I can guarantee the movie it was twice the fun provided by short film.
One another beautiful short film from the same director:
Note: This movie is also released in telugu as ‘Love failure’
