ARC-LIT FLOODLIGHTS!

 

 

It is an inference to the closest point of accuracy that every Indian belongs to either of the two religions. From the morning joggers’ huffypuffy-gossip to the evening-chai grandpa-gupshup – cricket and cinema form the crux of conversations. The demigods of one religion have hooked on to the zealous devotion of the aficionados of the other. Be it, the arc lights capturing all the action under the floodlights or the people under the floodlights facing the limelight, the phenomenon is ubiquitous.

This World Cup in the Caribbean is eventful in more ways than one! It forms the sensational backdrop for Hat Trick which blends four different stories into one. “My movie uses cricket as a metaphor and not a game, for life is like cricket.” maintains Milan Luthria, director of Hat Trick. Sachin and Lara could not only be seen shooting from their bats, but also batting their shooting schedules- for a Hindi film (Dulha Mil Gaya)! Nothing new for willow-wielders; a tradition set by the likes of Gavaskar (in Malamaal) setting the screen ablaze with his well-timed cameo. It was, albeit, contrary to Sandeep Patil’s extraa long innings in Kabhi Ajnabi Thei not running all the 22 yards just as Jadeja’s shot in Khel not clearing the boundary ropes at the box-office. The transition from sunscreens to rouge is not a flowing drive always! Mohsin Khan can vouch for it with his Saathi et al! But then there is Salil Ankola – a blinking eye would have missed him on the cricket field, but television soaps keep flashing him at every blink! A captain’s innings was played by Kapil Dev swinging himself into Iqbal as a selector. He went back unbeaten. Iqbal, with its portrayal of a determined deaf-mute who makes it to the national team against all odds, not to mention the casting couch of the selectors, caught the pulse of an Indian audience craving for well-made Crinema (cinema on cricket). Also ran, but got out LBW (Lost, Beaten and Walloped) was a certain Awwal Number – a forgettable film with Aamir Khan in the lead. He made amends with the crinematic extravaganza of Lagaan completing a series victory both on Indian grounds and foreign pitches alike, running all the way to the Oscar nominations. But then, much like the Indian cricket team the finals proved to be a nemesis. “Indian team ka koi bharosa nahi” – says SRK in K3G which has a pinch-hitting piece of cricket thrown in between the super-soppers soaking up the melodrama. With Hrithik Roshan entering the scene through a hit over the boundary ropes, Karan Johar caught it right!

Oblivious to all the humdrum of Indian cinema is a poignant tale of a cricket-obsessed boy who unwittingly gets caught in racial tensions when he befriends his Jamaican neighbours in The Wondrous Oblivion, a master-stroke by Paul Morrison. And before your drop the catch, The Final Test is not just the game where Sir Don Bradman got out for a duck, but also a 1953 British comedy about a father playing his last Test expecting his son to be among the spectators. Neither last nor least is another crinema in the making with Mathew Vaughn’s take on Bodyline with The Bloody Ashes. The rumour mills have been churning out Russell Crowe’s name as the man playing as Donald Bradman’s captain and whenever a Crowe plays a kangaroo, it sure is quite a sight. But, for the intensely religious Indian, cricket and cinema is adopted in order to have an excuse for celebration. With either of them, in The End, he would still want to see a smiling couple making its way up the steps of the pavilion!