My take on London 2012 Olympics

My first memory of the Olympics spectacle date back to the 1988 Seoul Olympics when Ben Johnson of Canada won the 100 metres race beating the favourite and reigning champion Carl Lewis of USA and set a new world record and for the first time an athlete had broken the 10 seconds barrier in the Olympics 100 metres race and that photograph of Johnson pointing his fingers towards the sky became a signature photograph; rest is as they say is history; Johnson tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was stripped of the WR and the Gold Medal; Carl Lewis retained his Olympic Title and set a new WR as well!!

And the Love Affair with Olympics started…it continued during Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008)…I used to follow all the games on Newspapers and on the Internet in the recent years but have never before followed any Sporting Event more closely than the London 2012 Olympics and I enjoyed my virtual participation ;) and discussing the games with my friends offline and majorly on FB!!!

London was announced as the venue for the 2012 Olympics on 6 July 2005 and it was a tragic & infamous start as the London Tube Bombings happened less than 24 hours after the announcement. But London had seven years to prepare and they did a great job indeed…

The Opening Ceremony was held on 27 July and was called "Isles of Wonder". Danny Boyle was the director and as expected he did a marvelous job but IMHO it was a shade lower than the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony which was technically and visually far more superior…I loved the Daniel Craig act and my favourite part was the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron which was described as "one of the best-kept secrets of the opening ceremony" – everybody including me was expecting the routine process; one athlete running and then lighting the cauldron with a torch but Danny Boyle blew everybody with his rendition! Taken from Wikipedia: Each young athlete was greeted by their nominating Olympian, and each presented with their own torches, which were lit from the Olympic flame. The young athletes then jogged through a passageway formed between the assembled athletes to the centre of the stadium, where the 205 copper petals (each inscribed with the name of the team it had accompanied) were now seen attached to long pipes in a circular formation (the petals will accompany each team home after the Games). The seven young athletes lit some of the petals, and when the flame had spread to all of them, they slowly rose to converge and form the Olympic cauldron.

And how can controversy stay behind especially wrt India ;) One female named Madhura Nagendra walked along our Flag-Bearer Sushil Kumar smiling her way to glory…and she was not supposed to be there! There have been various spoofs relating her infamous walk to other entry stunts as well! By far she was the most unforgettable non-athlete for Indians in these Olympics!

So on 28th July 2012 the London 2012 Olympics finally started with around 10,500 athletes representing 204 countries and across 26 sports and a total of 39 disciplines. For the first time there was a female participation amongst all the representing countries (yes, even Saudi Arabia had a female athlete) and it was a big step going forward! Another conservative country – Qatar also made history as a female athlete was their flag bearer in the OC!

16 days of sporting action…302 events…962 medals to be won…and many more records to be broken…The first Gold Medal was won by Italy in the men's team final event of Archery defeating USA…and the last was won by Laura Asadauskaitė of Lithuania in the Women's Modern pentathlon Event just hours before the start of the closing ceremony…

32 World Records were broken and set in these Olympics…USA topped the Medal standings with a total of 104 medals (46 G, 29 S and 29 B) followed by China in the Number 2 position – 87 medals (38 G, 27 S and 22 B) and the host nation Great Britain in the Number 3 position – 65 medals (29 G, 17 S and 19 B)…the others in the Top 10 (in order) were: Russia, South Korea, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary and Australia. 85 countries out of the 204 participating countries won atleast a medal! 54 won at least one gold medal. Bahrain, Botswana, Cyprus, Gabon, Grenada, Guatemala, and Montenegro each won its first Olympic medal ever, with Grenada's being gold. Even Kuwait won a Bronze Medal! Their second medal ever…won by their Shooter Fehaid Al-Deehani who got the medal in the Men's Trap Shooting Event…and he is the one who won the first-ever Medal for Kuwait in the 2000 Sydney Olympics too – a bronze!

The most exciting events of any Olympics are in the Athletics Stream and this time it was no different either! Usain Bolt the star winning 3 Gold Medals and repeating his hat-trick from Beijing Olympics….I am sure nobody can deny the fact that he is a legend! What a performance from the tall Jamaican…and his showman skills….I haven’t seen a more confident sportsperson ever in my life…helmets off to Usain Bolt!

IMHO the second biggest star of these Olympics was the American Michael Phelps who was competing in his last Olympics and being the legend he is, he had to bid farewell in the grandest possible style! He became the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals and also breaking the record for winning the most number of 18 gold medals; in London, Phelps won four golds and two silver medals…just read this for a data point: if Michael Phelps were a country then he would have been at a position of "47" in the all-time Olympic Medals List!!!

 And the third biggest star was Oscar Pistorius the South African athlete also known as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs"… in London, he became the first double leg amputee to participate in the Olympics when he entered the men's 400 metres race and was part of South Africa's 4 × 400 metres relay team! One of the biggest examples of dogged determination and a true sports champion! He didn’t win any Medal in these Olympics but for me his achievement is nothing short of a gold medal!

The best and the most brilliant celebration of a medal was by far that of Robert Harting of Germany who won the Men’s Discuss Throw Gold Medal…this photograph would tell you why!

The quote of the Olympics:

"Basically, we are not human; we dropped from space like Mr Bean. Mr Bean is not a normal guy, he makes jokes. We are not normal guys. We are from space, I am from Mars." - Jamaica's Yohan Blake 

And then there was the Indian Olympic Contingent…competing for the hopes of 1.4 billion Indians…it was our biggest Olympic contingent ever - 83 athletes to compete in 13 sports… India finally won 6 medals - 2 silver and 4 bronze which is by far the best performance by India in terms of number of medals won at any single Olympic games. – the next best was 3 in the preceding 2008 Beijing Olympics…The biggest shame was the Indian Hockey Team which failed to win a single group match and finished last amongst the 12 participating teams – their worst-ever performance; a bit better than Beijing though where they even failed to qualify! The first Indian Medallist was Shooter Gagan Narang who won a Bronze Medal in the Men's 10 m air rifle event on 30 July and the last but not the least and infact  by winning his second individual Olympic medal was our Wrestler Sushil Kumar who won the Silver in the Men's 66kg Freestyle Wrestling category on the last day of these games on 12 August…Our boxer Mary Kom created history by winning the first-ever medal of the Women’s Boxing Category in the History of Olympics! And our biggest medal hope Saina Nehwal had to settle with a Bronze Medal who won her match as her Chinese opponent retired due to a knee injury…but that medal winning photograph where she is standing with the 2 Chinese is one of my favorite ones signifying the Indian Challenge to the Chinese Domination in Women’s Badminton!

The biggest surprise was the shooter Vijay Kumar’s Silver Medal as he wasn’t expected to win but it surely made us very happy indeed! For me the best win was of Yogeshwar Dutt who won 3 tough wrestling bouts consecutively in the Repechage bouts to earn the Bronze Medal!

The final tally:

Medal         Name                        Sport                         Event                                          
Silver          Vijay Kumar              Shooting                    Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol    
Silver          Sushil Kumar            Wrestling                   Men's 66kg Freestyle                
Bronze       Gagan Narang           Shooting                    Men's 10 m air rifle                      
Bronze        Saina Nehwal           Badminton                Women's singles                          
Bronze        Mary Kom               Boxing                      Women's flyweight                        
Bronze        Yogeshwar Duttt      Wrestling                  Men's 60kg Freestyle                       

Hope these 6 medallists can inspire millions of other Indian Athletes and we can hit the magical double figure in the 2016 Rio Olympics!

Amidst all my Olympics hyper-excitement I started a specific page on Facebook named Nishant Jha's Olympics 2012 Updates as I thought I was spamming all of my friend’s FB News Feed by bombarding them with Olympic Updates….and luckily (some say it was a good omen) just moments after making this page Vijay Kumar won our first Silver Medal of these Olympics! It was great fun posting all those updates, interacting with all my friends on that page and wishing our Olympians the best of luck before each of their contests! I was following these Olympics on 3 TV channels – DD Sports, ESPN and Star Sports in addition to following the official website of the London Olympics and at times following the NDTV Live Feed as well.

But the best news broadcaster for the Indian Participation was a FB Page named India at London Olympics 2012 which was by far the most popular news feed for Indians on FB atleast!

Yesterday I followed the last Olympic Event -Women's Modern pentathlon Event and then got ready to watch the Closing Ceremony which was another fun event and was a musical blast with host of British Musicians participating and the biggest surprise was a Bhangra Show with our Punjabi Music and Bhangra Dance portrayed! An amazing moment it was…

So finally the London 2012 Olympics ended and on a big high indeed! And I am sure the next Olympics – Rio 2016 would be equally brilliant and fantastic!

Here’s wishing Great Britain & London a big thanks and Brazil & Rio the very best of luck and hope I would be able to catch all the action in the same way as I did during these Olympics!

Big thanks to my wife Bandita for being such a great partner during the Olympics...she was always there to discuss the matches, medals, wins, losses and all those mindless comments which I make! plus she also tolerated my 100% attention on updating the latest action on FB! Plus thanks to Ramadan here in Middle East and the curtailed office timings & work-load that I could follow this mega-event religiously for all these days!!!

Gangs of Wasseypur | My Review | Hazraat-Hazraat-Hazraat

I had been waiting for Gangs of Wasseypur like mad since the day it was announced and had been waiting for it expectantly; I was all over the place with its promotion on Facebook; in fact some of my friends thought I was being paid for it – but nothing of that sort, it was just my true love for “Anurag Kashyap” brand of Cinema and nothing else…I used the watch all the videos/pics/songs posted by GoW Team within minutes of them being posted and then went ga-ga over them on FB and posting them left, right & centre. I also downloaded its music and got lost in the sheer brilliance – what a mind-blowing soundtrack, it was playing at the loudest of the volumes in my car every day…so much was the excitement & anticipation…but then one of the biggest bummers of my life happened!

I watched its trailer when I went to watch the RGV Disaster named “Department” on the big screen here in Kuwait and thought (against hope) that it would release here in Kuwait too but 21 June came and it didn’t release here as the Censors here didn’t pass it for a release…I was shattered, depressed and distressed – all together…I somehow consoled myself and waited for the Pirated Camera Print to come online…and downloaded 2 of them but the print quality was disastrous and I decided to wait for a good quality print as I didn’t want to spoil and ruin my GoW Experience by watching a lousy print…

And finally the proverbial lady luck smiled on me on the night of 30^th June …after watching 9 movies in the weekend (yes, you read it correctly – 9 movies it is!) we geared up for our GoW Time which had well & truly arrived…Bandita in true Cinema-experience style popped a pack of Popcorn in the Microwave and we sat down to get drenched in Anurag Kashyap Magic….the writing was on the wall – KEH KE LUNGA…And it did all that and even more…

GoW is just about Anurag Kashyap's vision...to have such an extensive ensemble cast and still ensuring each getting their optimum screen time is a commendable effort to say the least....each thing about this movie wreaks of brilliance...be it the smashing music of Sneha Khanwalkar, the superb Background score composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar , the storyline (Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh, Sachin Ladia & Anurag Kashyap), dialogues, cinematography of Rajeev Ravi and the acting of the entire cast...

So much research and hard work has gone into making this movie and all the scenes must have been well-thought out and planned by the crew…minute details have been paid attention to and I could not find any glitches in the storyline…all the characters have been developed painstakingly and you start getting involved in each one of them…

It is brutal, dark, violent, abusive and yet funny!!! sheer magic and I was glued to my seat for the full 2.5 hours of the movie waiting with baited breath for the next scene to unfold…Helmets off to AK and the entire team who backed his vision and pumped money into this project…the new phase of Bollywood is well & truly here and I am very happy to say that its here to stay! And believe me, this movie isn’t for the sissies out there – it’s gory in its own way (unlike SawJ) and dark all the way through!

Some of the dialogues are way too awesome…apart from the ones which were publicized on YouTube there are loads of other equally brilliant ones as well! And I am not just talking about the Dialogues with Gaalis (Yes I loved them the most but loved others too) ;)

The song where Sardar Khan stands on a top of a truck and publicly takes on Ramadhir Singh while the guy in the pink shirt is dancing as if there is no tomorrow is sheer brilliance…and the song playing in the background “Kasam paida karne waale ki”…Hazraat-Hazraat-Hazraat!!!! Crazy stuff indeed…

Manoj Bajpai as Sardar Khan is menacing in his role and in spite of all his follies (read: love for violence & immorality) I loved his character...he is brutal when he kills people, shameless the way he treats his women and his eyes just mean lust and nothing else when he is around women! Needless to say he is the real star of the movie and this is one of the best roles of his life…Manoj Bajpai is back & how!

Richa Chaddha as Nagma Khatoon is a revelation; in spite of the utter disdain shown by her husband she loves him unabashedly! superb acting and what a fiery performance...great to see her back after the "Dolly" Avatar of Oye Lucky Lucky Oye!

Reemma Sen as Durga looks a real hottie and the lust for her is all-too-visible in the eyes of Sardar Khan; she doesn’t have many dialogues but really she never needed them - her body and eyes did all the talking!

Jaideep Ahlawat as Shahid Khan is menacing too in his brief role and sets the tone for the entire movie...the scene where he dies would never go out of my mind! Talk about Sudden Death ;)

Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Faizal Khan has started off brilliantly and I am sure he would be the star of the Part -2 and I hope to see some more romantic extravaganzas with Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) ;) and I am sure he would have all the Permissions by then to go all the way!!! His dialogue “jab tak Dileep Kumar hai tab tak Waheeda Rehman rahegi” is spectacular! And in fact he is the one who takes the real revenge for the killing of his grandfather and not Sardar Khan as he has been seen proclaiming in the movie J

Vineet Kumar as Danish Khan…My favourite scene of him is his “Suhaagraat” scene when he tells his wife “ santara ko seb kehne se seb thode hi ho jaayega, santra hi na rahega….sunhara rang, bheeni-bheeni khushbu aur andar se rasedaar” ;)

Huma Qureshi as Mohsina – the Ray Ban girl is beautiful, rustic and yet modern!!! And yes she likes both colours – Laal & Hara ;) and Innocence personified….even when she wants Faizal to touch her but even then she wants to tell him she is the boss!!!!

Pankaj Tripathi as Sultan Qureshi is controlled yet poignant in his performance; the scene where he asks for “Automatic Guns” from Ramadhir is brilliant – his understated style is for all to admire and has set the tone for an encore in the Part 2 and I am sure he would have a pivotal role in the second installment…glad to see him back on the big screen after his brief yet important role in Omkara!

Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ramadhir Singh – What a debut; he couldn’t have asked for a better start to his Acting career! He is restrained, calm & collected and yet brings out the expected results in the best possible way!

It was great to see Aayan Boradia back on the screen as the young Sardar Khan; he was simply brilliant in Udaan!

Jameel Khan as Asgar is comical too and plays his part brilliantly of being the right-hand man of Sardar Khan…

And then there is the indomitable Yashpal Sharma as the Item Boy singing “Salaam-e-Ishq”…bloody hilarious…hope its MP3 File is out soon J

Last but not the least Piyush Mishra as Farhan who is the right-hand man & caretaker of Sardar Khan and also the narrator of the movie…as always controlled yet so effective in his performance…he has also sung, written and composed the beautiful song “Ik Bagal”…He has also written “Keh Ke Loonga” and “Manmauji”. And then one of his dialogues when he is talking to Nagma: "Tum sahi ho, woh marad hai,"…WOW is the word for its poignancy!

Special Mention to the Music of this film which is nothing short of being master class…the kind of research & efforts which have gone into it is all too audible!! Sneha Khanwalkar just like AK is a true maverick in her own way…and each one of the songs of the Soundtrack is here to stay…my favourites being “O Womaniya” and “Ik Bagal”…and all the songs are perfectly timed in the movie and take the story forward…exception being “I am Hunter” which in my opinion was not at all needed…

The ending lives up to the theme of the movie – bloody and gory…and the famous & old-age saying…”you live by the gun and die by the gun”…

I just can’t wait for GoW – 2 to be released soon and watch the saga unfold further and get to its conclusion…needless to say it would be another masterpiece from AK and would be lapped up by us all…KASAM PAIDA KARNE WAALE KI…………………………………

Anurag Kashyap…keep the great work going and keep making such awesome films…you are the true maverick of Bollywood…helmets off to you….

Enjoy some posters of GoW..........and keep waiting for GoW - 2!

Che would be back on the road again…

Till then ride safe & have safe sex…

Hasta la Victoria Siempre & Jai BoP…

2011 Academy Awards...My Winners...

Watching movies has always been my passion and since last year I have started watching all the Oscar nominations religiously and this year as well I have watched all the movies nominated for the Top 8 Awards...finished right on time just a night before the awards would be announced!!!

One important observation of mine is that the quality of last year's nominated movies was far better than this year's but nonetheless some of them were real good and some of them plain bad!

As I did last year here's presenting my winners...dont know how incorrect I might be but I am sure some of my winners would surely win the coveted trophy tomorrow...

So here's the list:


Best Picture



The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

My Winner: War Horse



Best Director



Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo

My Winner: Martin Scorsese for Hugo



Best Actor



Demián Bichir – A Better Life as Carlos Galindo
George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King
Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as George Smiley
Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane

My Winner: George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King



Best Actress



Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs as Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clark
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe

My Winner: Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clark



Best Supporting Actor



Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn as Laurence Olivier
Jonah Hill – Moneyball as Peter Brand
Nick Nolte – Warrior as Paddy Conlon
Christopher Plummer – Beginners as Hal Fields
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as The Renter

My Winner: Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn as Laurence Olivier



Best Supporting Actress



Bérénice Bejo – The Artist as Peppy Miller
Jessica Chastain – The Help as Celia Foote
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids as Megan Price
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs as Hubert Page
Octavia Spencer – The Help as Minny Jackson

My Winner: Octavia Spencer – The Help as Minny Jackson



Best Writing – Original Screenplay

The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
Margin Call – J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
A Separation – Asghar Farhadi

My Winner: Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay

Cant call my winner here as havent read any of the original works...

May the best men and women win tomorrow night and I am sure the Jury would award the most deserving ones and not just go with the big names!!! as has been done at times in the past...

Unfortunately cant watch the Awards Ceremony LIVE as the timings dont suit me but would surely catch-up with the winners on the Internet...

And as the 2011 Oscar Mania is finally over would get back to watching some other movies from my list and now I have a partner-in-rhyme too !!! My wife Bandita is here with me to watch all the movies with me :)

Till the time we meet again...

Hasta la Victoria Siempre...

Che would be back again...

Cheers to life...have fun and have safe sex...