Watch it if you want the comfort of an a/c

runab and yours truly went to catch Provoked: A True Story it makes it my second Jagmohan Mundhra movie. Read more about it from the Wikipedia article on Provoked. To put a long story short, if you have the same motivation as we did – “escape the clammy Pune heat and feel comfortable for a few hours” go ahead and watch the movie. Alternatively, if you feel that you will come out of the movie more aware about “what really happened” then prepare to return disappointed. There are obvious JM touches in terms of spicing it up and one would be circumspect about his decision to cast Aishwarya Rai in the lead role. She looks dazed alright (err she’s looks the same in nearly all her movies) but what is jarring is that her eyes don’t speak at all (even when she says “I feel free”). Miranda Richardson as “Ronnie” or Veronica Scott is competent and welletched in as a character but I did also like Rebecca Pidgeon as Miriam. The film could have been way better if there was some sense in the editing.

On cricket among other things…

I’d decided not to comment on the World Cup or Indian Cricket since I seem to have lost any interest that I had. However, cricket talk (especially when the team is in the dumps) is somewhat unavoidable and the news channels are full of pontificating experts. I’d think that by this time the BCCI would have realised that the way to move forward was select a 30 or 35 member team ie 3 teams and keep them in constant training. Bench those who are not playing in the current match but keep them in training in the professional academies set up for the purpose. That wide a net will in a small way eradicate the zonal wranglings that dominate the selection and also eliminate the “mafia” approach (as Chappell says) of the senior players. Wonder if someone would find this idea practical…