Euro Cup Day 1 - Thoughts & Analysis

[Group1] [Greece vs. Poland] [Predicted Result – Greece will win 1-0]

2 Goals, 2 Red Cards, 1 Missed Penalty and such a hard fought wonderful match with all the ingredients of a roller coaster – what else can one ask of the open match in a tournament. Absolute delight!! After Poland took the lead in the 17th minute through Lewandowski the Greeks were looking clueless but they soon got their act together. And despite the unfortunate send off for Papastathopoulos after two harsh yellow cards, they still kept fighting and kept the spirits alive. 

Greek substitute Salpigidis scored the leveler right at the start of the second half. But the drama was not over, and then came the send off for the Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the 68th minute and a penalty to seal the game off. But some jittery nerves and good anticipation from the new goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton kept the score at par. Overall the Greeks were unfortunate for the harsh send off and then an almost certain penalty (handball) being denied. But they are to be blamed themselves a bit as well for missing a straight forward penalty.

Predictions For Euro 2012

The Euro 2012 is about to start in a day or so. I am making some predictions just for fun, let’s see how they hold out. 

Group Stages 

Group1:
This is the group of the minnows and that makes it somewhat exciting too as it very difficult to predict who will move ahead. I am backing the Czechs to top the group as they have one of the best goalkeepers in the world - Petr Čech – who on his day can guard his fortress like a wall. Also hoping Greece to get inspired by their 2004 win (though they had a forgettable 2008 campaign) and finish second in the group. 

Review: Music - Ishaqzaade (OST-2012)

Ishaqzaade (Starring - Arjun Kapoor, Pariniti Chopra) has already released in cinemas but I haven't been able to watch it yet. But I stumbled on the music album of the original sound track for the film. Below are my thoughts on the album. Please note that I am not a music expert but I love listening music especially Hindi film music. What you will read below is more a compilation of my emotions and the thoughts that went through my head while listening the songs.

Pareshaan by Shalmali Kholgade is a dreamy love ballet. She has a soft melodious voice that adds magic to this number. Be prepared to be transported to the world of stars, flowers, petals, waterfalls and love.

Jhalla Walla is the surprise package of this album. This is a rustic naughty track that will take you to the rural northern plains. The simplicity of the lyrics will remind you of nautanki ; the song starts with something like -  "aashiqon main jis ka title titanic, Muah kinara dikha kar ke dooba de gaya".  The reason it is a surprise is its singer. Normally this type of number would have been usually sung by Rekha Bhardwaj or maybe Sunidhi Chauhan but surprisingly Shreya Ghoshal lends her vocals and boy what an amazing job she has done!

Review : Movie - Agneepath

Almost every third post on my Facebook wall is talking about this movie. There is lot of nostalgia, lot of memories since the first one has such a cult status. So needless to say that there was a lot of hype and I went in with a lot of expectations and came out with a mixed bag of feelings.

Plot:
Being a remake it borrows the basic idea from the original so a lot of things are the same there is Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, Mandwa, Kancha, Baap ka badla, the poem et all. But not everything is the same, there is no Krishnan Iyer MA but there is Rauf Lala. The basic plot is the same but you cannot say so about the full storyline. It won’t matter if you’ve seen the first one or not. This reinterpretation of the movie works in its own right.

Review : Movie - Don 2

So, why is every other so called critic in the town trashing Don 2? It is a pretty decent movie albeit minor aberrations. In fact, I found it better than the first one. If the same people can’t stop raving about a nonsense MI-4, I guess, they should give Don a little due respect.

Plot:

The story starts 5 years after where it ended in the last part. Don (Shahrukh Khan) is now the biggest drug dealer in Asia and has plans now to expand to Europe. But to do that he has to take care of the reigning drug lords who themselves are wary of the rising Asian King. Don plans a bank heist to meet his goals and sets out to build his team which includes his old foe Vardhan (Boman Irani), a computer hacker Sameer (Kunal Kapoor), a mystery woman Ayesha (Lara Dutta) and a group of goons working under Jabbar (Nawab Shah). Meanwhile Malik (Om Puri) and Roma (Priyanka Chopra) are still following his trail. Does he succeed in the bank heist? Do Vardhan, Sameer and Jabbar loyally toe his line or ditch him? In all of this, how he handles Malik and Roma and the Interpol - makes up for the rest of the story. 

Review: Movie - Rockstar

Thankfully I was able to watch this movie on the large screen, today being the last day last show at the local cinema here. I am assuming most of you have already watched it but still here is what I think of it.

Plot:  

Janardan Jakhar (later Jordan), inspired by Jim Morrison, seeks pain to infuse life into his music on the advice of his friend and college canteen manager Khatanaji. In his quest of pain he seeks to woo Heer, a dil-todne-ki-machine to fall in love and get his heart broken. Heer who is getting married soon wants to live life to the fullest before settling down with a rich husband. Soon enough Heer and JJ are running around Delhi streets engaging in activities that they call ‘Gandh-Machana’.

Heer moves to Prague with her husband and JJ gets thrown out of his house and takes refuge in ‘Hazrat Nizzamuddin’. He is spotted by Ustaad Jameel Khan (Shammi Kapoor) a renowned classical artist and thus his singing career gets a start. Events unfold and Heer  Jordan’s paths cross several times.  Heer who is JJ’s elixir of creativity also becomes the poison of his destruction.  For Heer, Jordan is the spark of life and yet the very flame that consumes her.