Tendulkar is better than Bradman: Nasser Hussain

Tendulkar is better than Bradman: Nasser Hussain
I have never liked comparisons between great players, but after Wednesday’s incredible game it must be said — Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest batsman of all time.

Better than Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, the other two great players of my era. Better than Sir Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border. And I would even say better than Sir Don Bradman himself.

Now he has the first double hundred in a one-day international — hitting 25 fours and three sixes as India beat South Africa by 153 runs — he has swung it for me.

I played against Tendulkar on my first England tour, the Nehru Cup in India in 1989, and I could still see that excited boy in big pads in Gwalior.

That extraordinary drive and enthusiasm are what make Tendulkar so special. He has been playing international cricket for 20 years under the intense scrutiny being an Indian superstar brings, so it is remarkable he still loves holding a bat as much as ever.

Halfway through the Indian innings on Wednesday, Tendulkar was already on more than a hundred. It’s almost a given that he will reach three figures. But even he had not turned it into a double in a 50-over international before, and this was not against a lowly side but South Africa, one of the most formidable bowling attacks in the world.

There was no slogging — just pure, attacking strokeplay.
Tendulkar has gone back to being the fluent, almost flamboyant, batsman he used to be. In recent years his innings had become a bit mechanical, but I think he has remembered what made him great.

I interviewed Sachin for Sportsmail when he was touring England a couple of years ago — one of the highlights of my career since I stopped playing, and it was noticeable that he is not driven by money.

He has become a very wealthy man, but that has been as a result of doing what he does best and enjoying it. It has not been the be all and end all for him.

What else is left for Tendulkar now? Well, it is sometimes said that he has not played enough match-winning innings on the really big occasion for India.

What better, then, than to score a hundred in the World Cup final against Australia — or maybe even England — on home soil this time next year.

That would be the full stop that would enable Tendulkar to ride off into the sunset with everything achieved in his career.

My admiration for him is total. To steal the nickname of a certain football coach who led Inter Milan against Chelsea on Wednesday, Sachin Tendulkar truly is The Special One.

VTV Audio Review

Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya – One of the Best of ARR
The most awaited album of 2009-2010 has now reached the hands of music lovers. Expectations were huge because VTV is the first Tamil movie featuring Rahman’s composition after he won 2 Oscars and made the entire nation proud. Not only that Gowtham, who had given many super hit songs with Harris joined with ARR for the first time. Rahman had done great justice to the long wait of his fans.
All the songs are stunning and scintillating. Rahman had expanded the boundary of the mindset of Tamil audience through this album. Let us see one by one.
1. Omana Penne - Benny Dayal, Kalyani Menon
The first song in the album arrests you and don’t allow you to go to next track. When it comes to Rahman, it is hard for us to judge the tune. Benny Dayal had done a good job, the Malayalam lyrics had been sung by Kalyani Menon and adds more flavor to the song.

2. Anbil Avan - Devan Ekambaram, Chinmayee
A refreshing song, the choice of singers is very good. Devan’s voice is very appealing. Chinmayee is good as usual. Lyrics of Thamarai describes well the love between the two.

3. Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya - Karthik
Awesome performance by the singer, Karthik. It mesmerizes you the instant you listen to it. Listen to this song using your earphone at the night, in the terrace, watching the stars and moon and the cool, gentle breeze touching you – it’s magic.

4. Hosanna - Vijay Prakash, Blaze, Suzanne
The pick of the album for most of us when we listen to the album for the first time would be Hosanna, attracts you the very first time. A superb love song describing the love of the male lead. The soothing tune of Rahman, voice of Vijay Prakash, rap in the middle by Blaze and the interlude of Suzanne all together makes this song one of the best.

5. Kannukul Kannai - Naresh Iyer
Another love song with heavy beats, but it doesn’t disturb the voice. Naresh Iyer, the best choice by Rahman and he proved it right. Simbhu, being one of the best dancer in Kollywood, will rock in this song for sure.

6. Mannipaya - A R Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal
A very sweet song. Rahman had rendered his voice along with Shreya Goshal. The song explains how the female lead regret for the mistake she had done to her lover. Few couplets from Thirukural has been chosen and used in this song.

7. Aaromale – Alphonse
Aaromale, just mind blowing. This song is my pick of the album. A very refreshing song. Rahman had composed this song with International Standards. The song features full and full Malayalam lyrics. Alphonse had given his best and deserves a lot of appreciation for his work.
Overall VTV is certainly the best of Gowtham and one of the best of Rahman. A grand treat for music lovers. It is hard to judge the songs of VTV after hearing just once or twice. Listen to it and enjoy. As we all know Gowtham is well known for his picturisation, so soon we can expect a visual treat.
Verdict : Excellent
Rating : 4.5/5

Commercialism is not child’s play

Who is a good actor or what is good acting? To make it simple, let us try a more direct question. Which is the better performance – Prakash Raj in Kancheevaram or Vijay in Vettaikaran? Many of you might find this comparison absurd. That is completely understandable because it is difficult to adjust to a comparison which is never thought of and involves two performances that are poles apart in scope. But, let us persevere with it. Is it Prakash Raj in Kancheevaram or Vijay in Vettaikaran? To enable everyone to connect with the type of comparison that is being attempted, let us try Kamal in Anbey Sivam and Vijay in Ghilli (assuming that almost everyone has seen both these movies). Again, this is one comparison that will look totally against convention and preset notions about good acting. There is absolutely no doubt that almost everyone, if not absolutely everyone, will plump for the portrayal of Nalla Sivam by the legendary Kamal Haasan. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the choice. It was indeed a master class from Kalaignani. But, this is not about Kalaignani, this is about the other actor, Vijay, and the breed of actors that he represents.

What is the class that Vijay represents? The actor, who plays to the galleries, makes movies for fans, looks to entertain and doesn’t care much about critics. One gets the feeling that this class of actors is not sometimes given the respect that is their due. Not that they seem to particularly care, they are happy to see the masses enjoying their films. But, there seems to be a general opinion floating around amongst the so called A class audiences about the full-fledged commercial actor. Some of the important points seem to be; 1. they have no brains or have stopped using them 2. they can’t act even if their life depended on it 3. can’t do anything except dance, fight and look good 4. are obsessed with their larger than life image.

Yes, some of the points mentioned here might be a bit exaggerated. But, it cannot be denied that there are many people who do carry opinions that are very much similar to the above mentioned. The point is that many of the commercial heroes of our times are taken for granted. The skill and charisma that they bring to the screen is sometimes totally ignored because they are supposed to be stereotypical or clichéd. The thing that we tend to forget sometimes is that the job they do is not everybody’s cup of tea.

It has to be admitted that pulling off a larger than life character, mouthing punch lines, bashing up 50 odd men single handedly and other such cinematic items is not child’s play. Let’s try thinking of it this way- which is the bigger challenge- playing a true to life character or a larger than life character? Playing a true to life character demands a actor to behave much like an ordinary man would do in situations that life throws at him. But, a larger than life character demands an actor to create a mould for himself, craft his own style ad become a different person, a type that does not exist in normal life. True to life characters have templates, models and examples – a larger than life character has none (except in cinema). The energy, the inspiration and the ideas have to come from within the performer. It takes a lot of work, thought and talent to make an audience take a liking to an actor in a larger than life role.

It is not every actor who can pull off a 5 fight, 5 songs and punch dialogue routine without looking silly. Only a select few have that level of screen presence and persona to make the audience (not all sections) clap in delight when they go through these predictable yet enjoyable routines. One also feels that the delivery of the punch dialogue is one of the least appreciated skills in the film industry. It takes tremendous confidence and faith in one’s ability to say lines that sometimes outgrow the script itself. Very few actors can mouth such lines without eliciting sniggers and sneers from the audience.

To see the point more clearly, try answering this question. How many commercial ‘larger than life stars’ have at least one well performed true to life character to their credit? Almost everyone, would be the answer. Every commercial star has played a down to earth guy at least once in their career if not more number of times. But, can the converse be said about actors who play only the real-life type of characters. That is, does every ‘reality’ actor have at least one ‘larger than life’ role to their credit? Very few have been successful in such attempts.

Our full fledged commercial heroes do have the ability (they may not be class actors) to play some really well fleshed out characters. But, they do their kind of stuff in the industry because that is what is given to them. This might be a controversial statement, but, a good character actor is easier to replace than a commercial star. Character artistes have specializations – some are good at comedy, some at sentiments, some at villainy, some at action etc…. but, a commercial hero is expected to do just about everything in a 3 hour film. He plays the loving son (sentiment), the man in love (romance), capers around with the comedian, dances frenetically in songs and is full of energy in the stunts. A person who can carry of all this at a time is definitely talented. It is this ambivalent skill set of a star that is sometimes portrayed as silly mindless commercialism because ‘he is capable of nothing else’.

Yes, commercial stars do fail. When they fail, they look miserable to the point of being a joke. That is because making such cocktails of entertaining ingredients has a very fine balance which can easily be upset. Making commercial entertainers is a tight rope walk and our commercial heroes are at it all the time. That is why we see them falter and fall at times. But, let us not hold it against them and certainly let us not accuse them of being non-talented dim wits who cannot act. Look at the skills that they have, the entertainment that they deliver and the mass appeal that they command – you might be convinced that it takes a lot of skill and work to be one of that kind. Let us give them the respect that is their due.

http://www.behindwoods.com/features/column/index-25.html

Dedicated to Anti-Vijay Fans

This article is not written by me. But it is by a die-hard Vijay fan like me.

Two years back I was more than happy to bring to you people the article for SHIMs which I hope to some extent was an answer to the non-stop nonsense criticism prevailing about Vijay that time. Now two years later, when I sit to write part 2, times have changed and so is the mindset of people. Unfortunately, this part is dedicated not only to all those junks and sadists whose only purpose of existence is to tease and abuse Vijay, but also to the section of Vijay fans which has been polluted by the influence of other (over)actors’ films and Hollywood impact.

This article is directed to SAVAMs. While SHIMs was just an acronym, SAVAM in its meaning denotes dead bodies, and also expands as "Senseless Anti Vijay & Adulterated Morons". This is to mean that whoever fits in the description given above are those who cannot appreciate the dynamism and talents of Vijay and are no different than dead bodies. But of course, these dead bodies can read and interpret what I say, even if they ignore this, I care a damn about it, this is my dedication for Vijay and his fans.

There are 3 categories of SAVAMs I would like to specially address to: Bloggers writing blogs against Vijay, sadist people who forward negative messages about Vijay and jobless corporate people who forward mails against Vijay and his films. The worst thing about the second and third categories is, most of these people are our close friends and relatives who inspite of knowing that we are Vijay fans purposefully tease us. Such messages when it comes from people close to us hurts a lot, because we don't expect such acts from them even if others forward such messages.
Talking about bloggers, a PC/laptop with a high speed broadband connection (especially those living abroad) and an OC blog space courtesy Google are enough for them to happily scream all nonsense about Vijay. These jobless sadists have no work other than downloading or watching onine the movies, imagine worst cam prints minus theatre atmosphere, and then write a review in their junkyard(means blogspace) using the worst filthy and unparliamentary language you can ever think of. Sitting in an A/C room and joblessly watching a movie on laptop with a beer can in hand and loads of shit inside the head will definitely won't give any enjoyment of watching a commercial film of a mass hero.

These SAVAMs write as if they are Gurus of Tamil Cinema and are striving hard to encourage good and different(read Kamal/Surya) films and as if they grew up watching high standard hollywood and kollywood films. And they would even provide ratings for top 10 movies in their blogs for offbeat movies, bashing up commercial movies, least realizing that the movies they listed neither did anything good for its producers nor gave any viewing pleasure for the general audience. Not to forget that many of these people would have spent their early childhood with half trousers and leaking noses, watching dirty commercial cinema of 80's in their nearest theatres.
Nowadays one more worst sub-category has emerged which writes review without even watching the movie just for showing off their "humor sense" and "writing skills". And a bunch of shameless morons comment on these posts and make fun out of it. For Vettaikaaran I remember reading two worst reviews, one of which was a complete nonsense fake imaginary review and other one saying he liked Vettaikaaran and his son didn't like it, finally revealing he watched MGR's Vettaikaaran. Neither Vijay pleaded them to watch his movies, nor did they have any compulsion to do it. Inspite of knowing that they would not like it and it would give them headache or whatever, these SAVAMs watch it or pretend to do so, only for the sole purpose of writing an abusive post on it. Uselessness at its peak!

Coming to SMS forwarding category, SAVAMs effectively use their free SMS pack by sending abuse messages and forwards about Vijay, mainly to Vijay fans in their contact list. The most irritating thing is, even those who don't message/mail you frequently, immediately do a forward when they get an anti-Vijay SMS or email. I don't know what kind of sadistic pleasure it gives them, but when they put up a horrific smile on their face and come to ask you if you saw the mail/SMS, you feel like slapping them tight and slitting their throat. Atleast, I feel so.

The corporate junkies are even worse. Apart from doing the selfless service of copy pasting contents from above said junk blogs, they use their hard learnt technical knowledge on photoshop, flash and other things by creating videos, photos and animations against Vijay, wasting their time and talent for someone whom they consider "not even worth to be an actor". And hats off to their intelligence, as many of our friends pointed out, they have been doing free publicity for Vettaikaaran at the cost of their wasted time and resources of the company these SAVAMs work for.
Now over to the other side of the story. The moment you start sending them reply mails strongly or show them a straight face or start sending them mails abusing/making fun of their so-called favorite actors, it will bring the hell out of them. They come back shamelessly telling that they are fan of no one and they like good movies, or they liked so and so movie of Vijay but now his movies are bad etc etc. Mega serials lose out to such stories from these SAVAMs! :P

First of all the SAVAMs should realize that, for people like me, watching Surya doing a dumb romantic scene or Kamal coming in various avatars or singing in his heavy throat is as much torture as you feel while watching a Vijay movie, and even more than that. In fact, I can write out a mail criticising every so-called best films of other actors and bring out as many negatives as possible from them to compose an anti-actorX mail. But Vijay has not taught me that, he infact asks me every time to watch all actors movies, but this loyal heart refuses to.

Earlier the complaint on Vijay was that he follows the same old formula and not changing from it. Now many heroes, not only those who are "shedding their blood and sweat" for Tamil Cinema but even those mushrooms who popped up in yesterday's rain have started doing these type of movies. Hence the complaint has changed as Vijay should work with directors like the others do and he should provide movies which are watchable like they give. And those SAVAMs remarking on remakes, must analyze the track record of other mass heroes, who in the same timeline of their career as Vijay is in now, have made unimaginable number of remakes, many of them Xerox copies, which is proven from the data collected from their own websites.


And for the SAVAMs who categorize Vijay films as the ones made for C class audience, I would request them to go and see in their nearby theatres where Vettaikaaran is screened, not for watching the film, but to see the spread of crowd watching the film. Families, housewives, children, grandparents who dismiss their strain and come for watching an entertainer - If the ones you see in your own family are C-Class audience, then these people are also C-class. Fans give the movies the required opening and initial momentum, but it is this family crowd that takes it forward to give the movie its long run. Getting a director who makes films for city audience, a music director who shamelessly lifts tunes from western songs and a production house powerful enough to hold other movies to be released against you doesn’t make you a top actor, neither your film is top class.

All these family audiences were not gained overnight. It is Vijay's hardwork and his work onscreen that has earned him these fans. He had no father to back him with a good history(It is a fact to be accepted that SAC's legacy has written only negative impressions during Vijay's debut), he didn't marry someone whose popularity he can cash-in with family audience and nor did he do anything special to impress kids. But still they love him and watch his movies with their parents. And with nil smoking or drinking scenes (he pledged not to keep them after ATM) and not even bedroom scenes ("making love" as other actors name it) today Vijay's films are clean films as he knows his social responsibility and impact on his audience. Am sure, none of the SAVAMs will have an answer for why this happens.
Those who want getup changes from Vijay, first think of a single movie recently where any actor doing dual role has shown any difference between two roles without any changes in getup or hairstyle or anything, just with voice modulation and body language, like Vijay did in ATM. Doing 10 yrs or 60 yrs role is not important, how you show a difference in the same age similar looking characters is most important. And if someone thinks Vijay does same kind of action or expressions in all movies, every other actor does the same, atleast Vijay's expressions are enjoyable unlike the constant irritating "Eeeeeeeee" expression given by few actors in all their songs including pathos songs.

If changing getups and doing different roles is hard work, then do you call Vijay's efforts for every film as a cakewalk? Especially what about the risks and brave attempts in stunts he takes in these films some of which would have cost his life itself? Can anyone deny the struggle Vijay put himself through in films like Badri for the sake of his fans? Not even once he has spoken about all these sitting in all channels and dedicating it to his wife and son, he dedicates everything only for his fans. Infact, most of his interviews does not promote his films; he comes on TV only for fans.

It really makes me laugh at the ignorance of SAVAMs when I see mails and messages which portray Vijay as a remake actor and as a mass masala hero. I doubt if these jerks would have even seen the movies of Vijay before Ghilli, especially those from Poove Unakaaga till Vaseegara which has different flavors of Vijay in different commercial movies. Infact, I am sure many of Vijay fans themselves have not seen many of these movies and they know only the mass avatar of Vijay. I suggest them to have a round of these classics and then speak anything you want about Vijay in public forums.

And for those SAVAMs, who speak about Vijay's appearance and looks, it is this face that lives in the hearts of millions and millions of Tamil people, including small kids and mothers. People, who like Vijay, like him for what he is and not for how he looks. If looking fair or showing off body or building 6 packs is how a hero image can be attained, even lifeless dough made from maida flour looks fair and even a old man carrying gunny bags for a living, has 6 packs. These qualities doesn't make a hero suitable for a role, ultimately, how you carry on the role as yourself shows your real talent.

Another important string of messages that does rounds is those which quotes Vijay as "10th Std fail" and makes fun of his doctorate. Anyone who follows Vijay's history knows very well that he is a college drop out and who stopped with 10th std is a well known fact that need not be told. Moreover, - this is what has earned a doctorate for Vijay, not his educational qualification or his acting career. And none of his charity activities was even known to anyone, nor published in any media openly unless his fans themselves brought it out especially with online advancements. Without getting the facts right, some crap brain SAVAMs keep sending such nonsense mails/messages which doesn't actually have a meaning.

I can clearly state one thing. With the same formula, even if Vijay gives another Ghilli or a better film, the SAVAMs won’t stop their talks. Even if Vijay does a movie with Selvaraghavan or Ameer or any other "different" director for that matter, whatever role he plays offbeat or different from his usual, however best he acts in it, the anti-Vijay crowd will continue to tease him in one way or the other. Either they will blame Vijay of spoiling the film and director's name or they will say that so-and-so actor would have been the better choice. And if the film is a hit and good, then they will find minor faults in the film and even turn the topic as "the director gave life for Vijay" and so on.
What I am trying to convey is that, their only aim is to criticize and abuse Vijay by whatever means and reasons they can irrespective of the type and quality of films he is going to give. Even for Vettaikaaran, when they couldn't talk anything bad about the film, they started sending mail forwards making fun about the silky shirt Vijay wore in "Karikaalan" song. I replied only one thing: "It is better than roaming around in a film topless or sleeveless exhibiting body or wearing wife's t-shirts and attending functions"

Vijay has been there in film industry for more than one and a half decades and he has seen all ups and downs in his career. He has seen the good and bad and whenever there was bad, he has successfully come out of it, more stronger and escalated himself to the top. I am telling this to all those who can't stop comparing Vijay with other actors. Vijay is in his 17th year of acting and he is doing his 50th film. When you look at his past and see the times when he was in the same timeline and film count as other actors he is being compared with, you can definitely say he was in a better position than what they are today.

I can prove this just by one instance, when Vijay surpassed Rajini a decade ago in a poll conducted by Kumudham for popular actor/actress among college students. The actors whom you are talking about didn't even have a place in that poll. And these other actors will also pass through a time as Vijay did in past 2 years. And that time, we will tie our hands and see how they and their fans react to the situation (Some already did have crossed that stage, wherein they started doing "different" to survive in the industry, now they claim that they can't sleep well unless they give different films)
Before I finish, I just have only one request to all Vijay fans. You have got a treasure in Vijay out of which only a small part is enjoyed by you. He has many more years to go and many more films to come, and he will surely move himself towards better and bigger position in Tamil film history. Mistakes do happen and they get corrected, then better things happen, Vettaikaaran is the best example for it. All that you people need is patience, tolerance and immunity from SAVAMs who have the capacity to rape your senses with their shitty thoughts. If you already have these, never lose it, else you will be left out when in future the history is rewritten.

To end with, MY FOOT SENSELESS DUMBASS SAVAMs,

EVERY MESSAGE AGAINST VIJAY U SENT HAS MADE ME LOVE HIM MORE AND MORE

EVERY NASTY REMARK U MADE GOT ME MORE ATTACHED TO HIM

EVERY FILM U TRASHED MADE ME WATCH IT FOR MORE NUMBER OF TIMES AND BECAME MY FAVORITE

EVERY JOBLESS COMPARISON U MADE ME SHOW HOW BETTER IS VIJAY THAN EVERY OTHER ACTOR

EVERY BAD NICKNAME U TAGGED HIM WITH ME MADE ME WRITE HIS NAME IN EVERY CELL OF MY BODY

EVERY BAD THING U TRIED TO BRING OUT ABOUT HIM HAD MADE ME SEARCH AND FIND MORE AND MORE GOOD THINGS IN HIM

IN ESSENCE U HAVE BECOME MORE DUMBASS AND I HAVE BECOME A BIGGER FAN

THANKS FOR THE GREAT HELP!!!

Love Vijay,
Vijay Fan
Nalla irupom Nalla Irupom, Nallavanga Ellarum Nalla Irupom