The Rising x 2

Watched The Rising to mark my Independence day celebrations. Although it is certainly worth watching (once), I left the cinema untouched by the infantryman's heroics: not in realistic terms, but on dramatization. The screenplay was much to be desired and the songs and background score were disappointing. Toby Stephens seemed to have had a better chance to perform than Aamir. Dialogues were crisp and just about manages to hold the scratchy screeplay. Special mention should go the camerawork and choice of locations, some of them breathtaking. Nonetheless, it was personally gratifying to have watched the first war of Indian independence on Independence day. The movie is not without controversies. Already there seems to be some opposition here in the UK about the historical accuracies. THe UK film council, one of the major sponsors rightfully has chosen to fund a movie by quality rather on political correctness.

The other notable rising, this time not against the English, is the exponential growth of the English Cricket team. Anyone who has watched the Ashes series so far would'nt disagree with my understatement. They seem to have the Aussies tightly cornered and I would bet the Ashes would change hands after the 16 year wait. 20,000 fans were turned away today at Old Trafford and that speaks volumes about the growth in the interest in Cricket in England. However, some locals still dont get the hang of cricket. One of my colleagues asked me at the end of today's match, "Who's won?". "It's a draw" I replied. "Play for 5 days and all you get is a draw ?!". May be she has got a point.