25.02.10 / Cricket / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
DUBAI: Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday
jumped three places to third in the ICC ODI batsmen rankings after his
record-breaking double-century against South Africa while India are almost
assured of $75,000 for ending the calendar year at number two position in the
championship table.
Tendulkar (766 points), who returned undefeated
on 200 in his 442nd appearance at Gwalior on Wednesday, now trails second-placed
Mike Hussey (809) of Australia by 43 points with Indian captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni (827) strengthening his position at the top of the rankings after hitting
a 35-ball 68 not out against South Africa in the second ODI.
It is
Tendulkar’s highest ranking in two years after he had reached second position
following an unbeaten 117 against Australia in Sydney.
While
Tendulkar has vaulted into third position, fellow opener Virender Sehwag has
dropped one place to 10th position.
After missing a few matches,
Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir also slipped one and two places respectively to
be at 13th and 21st. A player loses one per cent of his ratings points for every
match missed.
In the bowlers list headed by New Zealand captain
Daniel Vettori, Harbhajan Singh is the only Indian at top 20 and the off-spinner
retained his place at fifth.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI
Championship, India has all but cemented second position after taking an
unassailable 2-0 lead against South Africa. It is now on 123 ratings points
while South Africa has slipped to 115 ratings points.
The only way
India can finish third at the annual cut-off date of 1 April is if it loses
Saturday’s match and New Zealand makes a clean sweep of the five-ODI series
against Australia starting in Napier on March 3, which is highly unlikely.
In that scenario, New Zealand will jump to 123 ratings points while
India will finish on 122 ratings points.
On the other side of the
coin, if India wins on Saturday then irrespective of how New Zealand and
Australia series pans out, India will finish second on 124 ratings points.
Australia has already sealed the number-one position with 134
ratings points and can only drop to as low as 128 ratings points if it loses all
the five ODI against New Zealand.
25.02.10 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Ever since she made her debut with the film Slumdog Millionaire, Freida has been creating waves from the film’s victory at the Oscars, to her being signed on for Woody Allen’s next. She is certainly going places. However, the latest news is that Freida has been signed on for yet another Hollywood film War of The Gods.
While Freida has completed her shooting Woody Allen’s You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger opposite Josh Brolin and Naomi Watts, and Israeli film Miral, which has been directed by Julian Schnabel, she will be working in War of The Gods which is based on Greek mythology and will be directed by Tarsem Singh. It begins production in April.
The story revolves around the warrior Theseus, who leads his men into battle with the Greek gods to defeat evil and the other elder gods in order to save mankind.
Freida who plays a Greek priestess in the film, portrays Phaedra, an oracle priestess who joins Theseus, to prevent the cataclysmic war from erupting.
The film which is scheduled to go on floors this April is being produced by Gianni Nunnari of Hollywood Gang Prods, Mark Canton of Atmosphere Entertainment and Relativity topper Ryan Kavanaugh.
25.02.10 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
6 years ago, on April 9, 2004, Riteish Deshmukh delivered the first hit of his career- Masti. While the film was directed by Indra Kumar, Milap Zaveri was the man behind the story, screenplay and funny dialogues of the film. Now exactly six years later, Milap Zaveri makes his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Ha starring Riteish Deshmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez in lead roles and as luck would have, it the film releases on the same date April 9.
Milap, who is eagerly awaiting the response to his maiden directorial venture, hopes that history repeats itself. “Riteish and my first hit as a team was Masti which released on the 9th of April. Now, 6 years later, once again we have our film Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai releasing on the same date. For us, 9th April is a really lucky date and we hope that history repeats itself yet again on this date.”
Looks like Milap and Riteish have taken luck on their side and hopefully, it’ll do the trick for Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai.
25.02.10 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
The Bhatts have been known to make films that revolve around social issues. With new blood in terms of the young director Mohit Suri, they promised to instil their films with views that have changed over time. Mohit, who is currently shooting for his next film Crook which stars Emraan Hashmi and newcomer Neha Sharma, chatted with Bollywood Hungama about the film. He also explains why the content borders on sending out a social message. Read on to know more.
What is the film Crook all about?
Well, Crook is basically about this guy who constantly looks for better prospects abroad and wants to go there. It’s based on what’s happening in Australia and how he manages to cope with the situation once there. It encompasses the new trend that western nations are the place to go for a new job and also to make your life, and such other situations. There is a lot of drama et al, with the protagonist taking a stand against some racial issues that the film is based on, but in the end if you look at it closely there is also a love story angle twisted into the plot. But still I wouldn’t say that there is any kind of social message in the film as there is no solution to this nor have we come up with one as yet.
Crook is based on the racial discrimination happening in Australia with a love story I the background.
Why Emraan?
I guess Emraan was my first and only choice for the film’s lead actor, the reason behind this is that I have always said that the two of us share a good camaraderie since we almost grew up together. We quite literally understand each others point of view and thinking process. He’s a great asset to me as a director and I seek his help when needed the most.
Who is playing the female lead opposite Emraan in the film?
For the lead actress, we settled on Neha Sharma, she’s basically from the south and has done a couple of films out there but in terms of Bollywood or rather Hindi language cinema, this is going to be her debut vehicle.
Neha Sharma, who will be making her Hindi language film debut is paired opposite Emraan.
What’s Emraan’s character like in the film?
Emraan as I said plays the main protagonist in the film; he plays this guy who’s based in Mumbai, who thinks that the best way to make it in life is to head west. With this in mind he ventures to Australia. He is also the kind of person who doesn’t mind cutting corners and stepping on people toes so long as it takes him ahead. He even goes so far as to cheat and get into underhand dealings to progress. As the film is based on what’s happening in terms of racial discrimination there, it’s about how the protagonist copes with the situation and takes a stand in the film.
Most of the film will be shot in Melbourne and Mumbai as these are the places where everything is happening.
Where all are you planning to shoot the film?
We were and are doing the recce of the film here in Cape Town. While I have already settled for Melbourne as that’s where the entire heart of the problem was, here in Cape Town I am shooting some action bits of the film and yes of course in Mumbai. Basically Melbourne and Mumbai is where the film is based, that’s where the main protagonist spends most of his time and most of the shooting is also done here.
So, when are you looking at releasing the film?
In fact I am looking at wrapping the entire shoot schedule by May, because I shoot non-stop. So latest that it will go on till is the end of June. However, once the post production work is done I don’t like to indulge into the deciding of the release dates and promotion of the film. For that I leave it to the Bhatts. I think that the producers of the film are the best judge to decide about the where, when and why of a film’s release.
Who is doing the music of Crook?
For Crook, we have Pritam doing the music of the film. This time however there is a bit of Punjabi tadka to it. This in itself is something really new for me as I have never really done Punjabi music in any of my films and I haven’t done the entire hip hop mixed with Punjabi variation before. In Crook, in terms of the music, I am trying to mix the UK artists with the traditional Mumbai artists, so I am trying something totally new and different.
What’s your schedule like for this year? Planning any other film after Crook?
I can’t tell you right now, because I am the kind of person who works on one thing at a time. So right now I am doing Crook and I like to focus my entire attention on doing it, so others will just have to wait.
25.02.10 / Cricket / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
CHENNAI: Milestone man Sachin
Tendulkar and explosive opener Virender Sehwag were rested while Tamil Nadu
opener Murali Vijay and Karnataka speedster Abhimanyu Mithun were on Thursday
included in the Indian squad for Saturday’s third and final one-dayer against
South Africa in Ahmedabad.
With India having clinched the
three-match series by taking an unassailable 2-0 lead, the national selectors
opted to rest the seasoned duo for the inconsequential match.
The
selectors left out Uttar Pradesh pacer Praveen Kumar and Mumbai all-rounder
Abhishek Nayar from the 14-member squad, with Mithun and Rohit Sharma replacing
them.
Harbhajan Singh, who had opted out of the first two matches
because of his sister’s wedding, has also been rested, meaning that leg-spinner
Amit Mishra is the only specialist spinner in the squad announced after a
selection committee meeting.
Mithun, who was named in the squad for
the first Test against South Africa in Nagpur, was left out from the second
match in Kolkata without having played the match.
But the selectors
opted to give him another chance at the expense of Praveen
Kumar.
With Tendulkar, who created history by becoming the first
cricketer to score a double century in one-day internationals, and Sehwag being
rested, Vijay and Dinesh Karthik are expected to open the innings.
Tamil Nadu off-spinner R Ashwin, who is also a decent batsman, has
been retained in the team along with Uttar Pradesh paceman Sudeep Tyagi. The two
youngsters have not yet played a single match in the series and one of them
could get a chance in Ahmedabad.
India will again miss the services
of in-form opener Gautam Gambhir, hard-hitting middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh
and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, all of whom are recovering from injury.
India won the first one-dayer in Jaipur by just one run and then
clinched the series with an emphatic 153-run victory in the second one-dayer in
Gwalior which will be remembered for Tendulkar’s stupendous unbeaten knock of
200.
Squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Virat
Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Sudeep Tyagi,
S Sreesanth, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Abhimanyu Mithun and Ashish Nehra.
