Twin Towers

The year 2009 had seen myriad events.But it had been a year of personal landmarks for two of the greatest icons of India and conjures up some pleasant memories for the duo. They have inspired a whole generation of performers over the years ,still young people wanting to emulate them. They have run out of space for memorabilia in their cupboards. Let's take a bit of a peek into the past.

14-Dec-1989 -The cold winds are howling across on a winter day in Sialkot ,Pakistan and the temparatures were freezing.A 16 year old walks out to middle to face the most fearsome and brutal bowling attack of our times -Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis-backed by the legendary Imran Khan.. A hell of a ball hits the boy on the helmet with blood oozing from the nose.But the boy shows no nerves, just has a glare at the bowler and refuses any medical assistance. Since then the world of cricket was never the same again and a legend is born.


15-Nov-2009- The boy still around and completes 20 years of cricket .Mountains of cricket records to his name and the list still growing.The statisticians have run out of ideas keeping track the no.of records in the man's name ( OOPS!!! still a boy's name)

The year was 1959 - A very popular producer went to a marriage. He sees a 5 year old boy who was so cute and very mischievous. He asks him "Thambi, en padhathila Nadikiraya?"(Boy do you want to act my film), Athuku andha paiyan(For which the boy replies)"Ennaku, Pomeranian nai vangi thanthingana Nadikiren" (If you buy me a pomeranian dog I will act in the film). That producer agrees with him and the boy acts in that film). The producer was AVM. The film is "Kalathur kanamma" ,releases on Aug12,1959 and the boy receives National award for the best child artiste.The range of characters the boy went on to do is still something unparalleled in Indian cinema.

Aug12,2009-The boy has completed 50 years in cinema and over 200 films spanning more than quarter of a dozen languages, a record 4 national awards,19 filmfare awards ...the list goes on. After his latest award in 2000 ,the boy has written to the organisation to exempt him from further awards.

These guys continually set benchmarks for themselves.Let it be the upper cut,masterly cover drive , on drive,cheeky paddle sweep etc of Sachin or the unforgettable performances of Kamal in Moondram pirai,Nayagan, etc. Surviving 10 to 15 years in any field is great by any standard. But 20 or 50 years in any field is a monster of an achievement ,something incomprehensible for any ordinary folks like us.Contrary to what many people believe, money ceases to be a motivating factor after a certain time and it takes more than that to survive all these tough years in professional life. What do people like them share in common ? A seven letter Mantra called "Passion" They are intensely passionate about their job,continuous commitment to the passion .But the most important thing, I think, keeps them apart from the rest of the crowd is their "Willingness to learn". It is what keeps the fire in the belly without getting extinguished after all these long years of yeoman service to their respective fields. . The one thing not to be forgotten is that they are still competing with people almost half their age and they may not be physically as good as they were in their 20's .

When people almost write off these guys and their retirement talks seems to be in the air ,their passion helps them rise like phoenix from the ashes. Definitely age is to catch up with them (Actually just trying for a long,long time).But they are still giving their contemporaries and rookies a run for their money. When the young competitors think that they have come somewhere close to their achievements,they have other ideas.They have raised the bar and already hit a new high.

Let's explore the first "c"

The critics often comment that "Sachin is not the best player anymore,he better hang up his boots",etc.His knocks have not been matching ones,has not won a World cup for the country".Let these guys know that game of cricket is a team affair and just one man show is not enough to win matches.The reason players from countries like Australia and South Africa have been involved in many match winning knocks is that they have been backed by some excellent bowling and some gravity defying fielding.

A person playing for 20 years after all injuries from head to foot ,it speaks volumes of his fortitude. Everytime his game or his body has thrown up a challenge,he has taken it up with a big heart and has come out stronger .Just to survive those pecking complaints itself, is a no mean achievement.Averaging around 55 in tests ,45 in ODI's ,30000 international runs,nearing half century of centuries in test and ODI's. Do the critics need any more numbers than this ??? .In the past decade, Ponting seems to have closed in on him but the guy is buzzing again ,seems to be in the prime of his life in the past two seasons and the gap is again starting to widen. In case, if critics say a player cannot be chosen based on his past records alone,I have got something to say aloud .Another myth has been shattered in the just concluded IPL - that T20 is a young man's format. The guy has got an orange cap and the guy is 37 years young !!! a week back.

What sets him truly apart from rest of the people at the top , I believe are two things .First of all not a single incident of on-field break of code of conduct in all these years.He has let his bat do the talking all these years. But the most important thing I would say has been his longevity.According to a latest stat "He becomes the first modern player whose career has spanned across Four decades" .At the heart of all of this has been his child-like enthusiasm.,still enjoying the game ,celebrating every moment like a candy -loving kid and his double ton is truly an icing on the cake.

lets's move from one "c" to another

Wrt to UH ,learning ,learning and learning ,nothing less.In addition to an actor and a director, he is a screenwriter, lyricist, screenwriter,choreographer .....................The list just seems to be endless and growing everyday.The effort put into each performance is just staggering. The effect of the greats of Tamil cinema like Nagesh,Sivaji Ganesan,K.Balachandar,Bharathiraja,Balu Mahendra from whom he had learnt or lived since he was a 5 year old definitely seems to have a profound effect on him. As said rightly by Sir Isaac Newton"If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants".Since his first movie ,he has been now and then frequented by controversies for almost all his movies. But the way he has handled all these controversies is absolutely fantastic and the most important thing is that he has never allowed these controversies to interfere his work.

His love for cinema is evident from the fact that he has spent most of his earnings in cinema only in cinema thru,his production house ,Rajkamal International which has given some of the best movies of our times starting from the path breaker of 80's "Vikram" to another path breaker again of 2K's "Unnaipol oruvan" . The list also includes some the best Tamil cinema has seen which includes Devar Magan,Virumandi, Hey Ram all of which is an exhibtion of a genius called Kamal. The reason why films like Kurudhipunal,Hey Ram ,Anbe Sivam were never a commercial success even though they were critically well acclaimed and were the best in the class baffles me to this day.This only further stresses the reality that this man is probably way,way ahead of our times.

The relationship he has shared with his contemporaries has been his one of the most commendable qualties.His relationship with his most famous contemporary of our times, Mr .Superstar since their days as students of KB has reached it's peak evident from latest painting gifted to Kamal by Rajini.Another praiseworthy thing has been that he has always remained clear of politics and devoted all these years to what he knows best and does best -cinema,except for an involvement in a few gatherings which I feel, might be due to some political pressures..Personally I expect three things from him -

1) Less of Kamal the actor and more of Kamal the screenwriter and director in the coming days and he needs to create a generation of Kamal Hassans who can serve cinema for generations to come.

2) Put all his ego behind (the same applies to other stars as well) and get involved in many more multistarrers like "Unnaipol oruvan" which augurs well for Indian cinema and in particular Tamil cinema so that we can expect a "Godfather" like Indian movie atleast in the near future.

3) It's time he goes global.The world needs to know of this genius .I hope to see a "Kamal-Tarantino" or a "Kamal-Scorsese" or a "Kamal-Clint Eastwood" combination one day on the screen.It might be one of the best moments of my life as a cinema lover.

Just think of the situation if these geniuses have never existed.Cinema or cricket might not have the cult status they enjoy today.Just to think of the hour when these guys call it a day absolutely scares me.Pardon me if I have left some of the the other best geniuses of our generation like ARR,Federer,Tiger woods or other umpteen number of geniuses the world has seen.I just wanted to remain focussed on the two landmark events .

To achieve all these in a country like India where people are fanatic about two things -cricket and cinema, leaves me dumbfounded. These guys enjoy a cult status .One day you are the god and next day you are brought down to earth..At the drop of a hat ,media would bray for their blood. and public would burn effigies. ,.These people tend to be in the limelight always .They are often attacked personally.Their personal life also becomes a part of the focus.Especially the way Sachin was booed in that infamous test against England by his own home crowd in Mumbai is definitely one of the darkest incidents in the recent decade for the game.The protests against "Hey Ram " or the name issue against "Virumaandi" exposes the degree of infantilism of the Indian public and politicians.The maturity level as an audience is abysmally low which never seems to have improved .

We must believe though these guys are geniuses, they are just ordinary men like you and me at the end of the day .The most important thing critics or fans should fathom is that these men are beyond any criticism..They are above any victory or defeat.As fans we need to be more open minded of any victory or defeat .But as far as I am concerned,. I just see them as performers and they are the best in the business.Surviving all these huge mental pressures, these people amazingly continue to produce quality stuff in their respective fields.