Preity and Ness going to be arrested?

IPL seems like a juggernaut which never has an off season. With Lalit Modi clusterfuck still going on, we have this news hitting the waves... 

The Dostoyevsky Defense!!!

It’s a good thing the IPL is over and with it, all reason to be concerned about the environment. Six cartons of printouts running into a few thousand pages [I read five newspapers this morning and all of them cite a different figure -- was tempted to hold up the hand of the highest bidder and declare that paper the winner] — what was Modi thinking?

Actually, the “IPL chairman and commissioner (suspended)” — trust Modi to use his suspension on his visiting card — and his legal team has been thinking fairly hard. And fairly well. And their response could in time to come be studied by those who study such things, under the title The Dostoyevsky Defense or some such: note that his reply is roughly the size of Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground. Combined.

You’ve got to love the man. Not only does he bury the BCCI under a mountain of paper while he himself chills in Monaco, he adds a gratuitous barb that it should take a “trained lawyer” like Shashank Manohar only three or four days to go through those six crates. Brilliant.

The framing of his defense has been uniformly fascinating. Step one [kind of like castling, say, where the objective was to build a defensive stronghold] was when he demanded that all charges against him be basis documentary evidence. Consider the original charges one more time: “behavioral patterns” is off the board because what the hell kind of documents can the board produce to back that up?; the charge that he tried to muscle Kochi into surrendering the franchise is equally off the table because (a) he is certainly smart enough not to threaten anyone through documented paperwork in triplicate and (b) the minutes of his meetings with the franchise, which IPL CEO Sundar Raman wrote, would only tend to present the picture Modi wished to present.

So that is two out of six charges defused. A third relates to the charge of finagling the internet rights to favor family and friends — and on that no one, not the board, not even the various investigative arms of the government, have been able to piece together with appropriate documentation the elaborate shell game through which rights were transfered and re-transfered until they ended up in the ‘right’ hands. So that is three out of six charges defanged even before the disciplinary hearings have even started.

The remaining three charges are what Modi and his battery of high priced lawyers have buried under a blizzard of paperwork — and significantly, the papers are supposed to include copies of SMSes sent to “members of the governing council”. That line underscores what has become common knowledge in recent times — that while Modi did not at all times take the governing council in toto into his confidence, he roped in various individual members, including two former cricketers who are part of the council, into parts of various schemes [that also explains why Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar have, unlike Pataudi, been totally silent on the issue ever since it hit the headlines].

Modi’s strategy is simple, and so is his defense: injured innocence, and a paper trail a mile wide to show that various members of the council knew what he was doing as he was doing it.

In other words, he changes the nature of the charges against him. It is not about whether there was irregularity in the granting of franchises to KXIP and Rajasthan Royals — the point, he will argue, is not whether everything was kosher or not, but whether he kept the governing council in the loop while it was all happening. To that end, his argument is, if I informed one member of the council of what I was doing at the time I was doing it, it is tantamount to having informed the whole council.

Neat.

READ more at LINK

The Dostoyevsky Defense!!!

It’s a good thing the IPL is over and with it, all reason to be concerned about the environment. Six cartons of printouts running into a few thousand pages [I read five newspapers this morning and all of them cite a different figure -- was tempted to hold up the hand of the highest bidder and declare that paper the winner] — what was Modi thinking?

Actually, the “IPL chairman and commissioner (suspended)” — trust Modi to use his suspension on his visiting card — and his legal team has been thinking fairly hard. And fairly well. And their response could in time to come be studied by those who study such things, under the title The Dostoyevsky Defense or some such: note that his reply is roughly the size of Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground. Combined.

You’ve got to love the man. Not only does he bury the BCCI under a mountain of paper while he himself chills in Monaco, he adds a gratuitous barb that it should take a “trained lawyer” like Shashank Manohar only three or four days to go through those six crates. Brilliant.

The framing of his defense has been uniformly fascinating. Step one [kind of like castling, say, where the objective was to build a defensive stronghold] was when he demanded that all charges against him be basis documentary evidence. Consider the original charges one more time: “behavioral patterns” is off the board because what the hell kind of documents can the board produce to back that up?; the charge that he tried to muscle Kochi into surrendering the franchise is equally off the table because (a) he is certainly smart enough not to threaten anyone through documented paperwork in triplicate and (b) the minutes of his meetings with the franchise, which IPL CEO Sundar Raman wrote, would only tend to present the picture Modi wished to present.

So that is two out of six charges defused. A third relates to the charge of finagling the internet rights to favor family and friends — and on that no one, not the board, not even the various investigative arms of the government, have been able to piece together with appropriate documentation the elaborate shell game through which rights were transfered and re-transfered until they ended up in the ‘right’ hands. So that is three out of six charges defanged even before the disciplinary hearings have even started.

The remaining three charges are what Modi and his battery of high priced lawyers have buried under a blizzard of paperwork — and significantly, the papers are supposed to include copies of SMSes sent to “members of the governing council”. That line underscores what has become common knowledge in recent times — that while Modi did not at all times take the governing council in toto into his confidence, he roped in various individual members, including two former cricketers who are part of the council, into parts of various schemes [that also explains why Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar have, unlike Pataudi, been totally silent on the issue ever since it hit the headlines].

Modi’s strategy is simple, and so is his defense: injured innocence, and a paper trail a mile wide to show that various members of the council knew what he was doing as he was doing it.

In other words, he changes the nature of the charges against him. It is not about whether there was irregularity in the granting of franchises to KXIP and Rajasthan Royals — the point, he will argue, is not whether everything was kosher or not, but whether he kept the governing council in the loop while it was all happening. To that end, his argument is, if I informed one member of the council of what I was doing at the time I was doing it, it is tantamount to having informed the whole council.

Neat.

READ more at LINK

Sports and Bollywood

LINK

Sports have instant connect with the Bollywood since the very beginning. Apart from sports or sports element forming the integral part of storyline of Bollywood’s script, Hindi film Industry has been abuzz with rumor of love affairs between Bollywood star and Sports persons. The ongoing Indian Premier League ( IPL) has also Bollywood connections with Hindi film stars such as Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Shahrukh Khan associated with Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knightriders respectively.

There have been various sports films made in the Hindi Film Industry. The best known Hindi films based on sports are Lagaan and Chak de India. Lagaan which was directed by Ashutosh Gawaskar had cricket as its central theme. The Oscar nominated film shows that how a simple villager Bhuvan portrayed brilliantly by Aamir Khan uses cricket to get tax exemption for an entire village. The film was based in the period when India was still not independent and was under the British Rule. The film got rave reviews from critics and was a box office success.

Another film which caught the attention of audiences was Chak De India. The film directed by Shimit Amin is based on Hockey, India’s national sport and is the story of a Hockey Coach played by SRK who returns to coach a girl’s hockey team to make it the world champions and win his reputation back. The movie was released in 2007 and became an instant hit. The slogan” Chak de India ” became very popular all over the country. The film was loosely based on true story of Mir Ranjan Negi, the former coach of Indian women hockey team who strives hard to make his girls bring laurels to the country.

Another interesting film based on cricket which was applauded by critics was Nagesh Kukunoor directed “Iqbal”. The film revolved around the story of a boy who is deaf and has speech disorder’s struggle to register his place in the national cricket team.

Another sports films that comes to mind is Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar made by Aamir Khan Productions. The film which was released in the year 1992 was based on high school drama revolving around a prestigious cycle race competition.

Though most of the Hindi films are based on cricket, there have other Hindi films which have used boxing, racing , wrestling etc. as its theme. The one prominent film which revolves around boxing is Sunny Deol’ s starrer Apne. It starred all the three Deols- Dharmendra, Bobby and Sunny. In the movie Bobby fights to remove the blot on his father’s boxing career.

John Abraham starrer Goal was based on football whereas Saif Ali Khan, played a racing star in Ta Ra Pum Pum.

One of the earliest films made on cricket was Awwal Number. Devanand was the Chairman of Selectors who drops his brother from team because of his habit of boozing and being spendthrift. He was replaced by Sunny(Aamir Khan) which hurt him so much that he tried to bomb the stadium. Lahore is a recently released sports movie on boxing.

Sports films are more than welcome in this sports crazy nation but these should be dealt very carefully to catch the fancy of audiences.

Sports and Bollywood

LINK

Sports have instant connect with the Bollywood since the very beginning. Apart from sports or sports element forming the integral part of storyline of Bollywood’s script, Hindi film Industry has been abuzz with rumor of love affairs between Bollywood star and Sports persons. The ongoing Indian Premier League ( IPL) has also Bollywood connections with Hindi film stars such as Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Shahrukh Khan associated with Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knightriders respectively.

There have been various sports films made in the Hindi Film Industry. The best known Hindi films based on sports are Lagaan and Chak de India. Lagaan which was directed by Ashutosh Gawaskar had cricket as its central theme. The Oscar nominated film shows that how a simple villager Bhuvan portrayed brilliantly by Aamir Khan uses cricket to get tax exemption for an entire village. The film was based in the period when India was still not independent and was under the British Rule. The film got rave reviews from critics and was a box office success.

Another film which caught the attention of audiences was Chak De India. The film directed by Shimit Amin is based on Hockey, India’s national sport and is the story of a Hockey Coach played by SRK who returns to coach a girl’s hockey team to make it the world champions and win his reputation back. The movie was released in 2007 and became an instant hit. The slogan” Chak de India ” became very popular all over the country. The film was loosely based on true story of Mir Ranjan Negi, the former coach of Indian women hockey team who strives hard to make his girls bring laurels to the country.

Another interesting film based on cricket which was applauded by critics was Nagesh Kukunoor directed “Iqbal”. The film revolved around the story of a boy who is deaf and has speech disorder’s struggle to register his place in the national cricket team.

Another sports films that comes to mind is Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar made by Aamir Khan Productions. The film which was released in the year 1992 was based on high school drama revolving around a prestigious cycle race competition.

Though most of the Hindi films are based on cricket, there have other Hindi films which have used boxing, racing , wrestling etc. as its theme. The one prominent film which revolves around boxing is Sunny Deol’ s starrer Apne. It starred all the three Deols- Dharmendra, Bobby and Sunny. In the movie Bobby fights to remove the blot on his father’s boxing career.

John Abraham starrer Goal was based on football whereas Saif Ali Khan, played a racing star in Ta Ra Pum Pum.

One of the earliest films made on cricket was Awwal Number. Devanand was the Chairman of Selectors who drops his brother from team because of his habit of boozing and being spendthrift. He was replaced by Sunny(Aamir Khan) which hurt him so much that he tried to bomb the stadium. Lahore is a recently released sports movie on boxing.

Sports films are more than welcome in this sports crazy nation but these should be dealt very carefully to catch the fancy of audiences.

Target Modi, not VIP allies

New Delhi, April 19: The government is expected to concentrate its firepower on IPL chief Lalit Modi but unlikely to go the whole hog in its efforts to clean up the IPL mess as that could involve hunting down “very big players”, sources said today.

The finance ministry has asked its various investigative and enforcement wings to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the IPL commissioner’s assets and financial deals. The corporate affairs ministry has also entered “the picture”, as minister Salman Khursheed put it.

While the tax department is piling heat on the BCCI by seeking replies to nine queries by April 23, the Enforcement Directorate is looking into deals abroad.

The notice to the BCCI — the board is extremely wary of government interference — is being seen as a loud signal to dump Modi, while the enforcement drive is being interpreted as a portent of a tougher crackdown if he holds his ground. The directorate is known for strong-arm tactics such as arrests and imprisonment.

That the issue stayed on the government’s radar a day after Shashi Tharoor resigned was evident from the fact that the Prime Minister was briefed on the IPL issue by BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla during the day.

The Modi camp so far has an ally in Sharad Pawar but it is not clear which way the NCP leader will swing if the government persists with its crackdown on the IPL chief. Some IPL franchisees have also started speaking against Modi, though Vijay Mallya, who owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore, is standing by him in public.

Although finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today told the Lok Sabha that “no wrongdoer would be spared”, not everyone in the Congress supports the idea of risking the government to cleanse the cricket administration.

Some party leaders have requested the government to look into the whole gamut of cricket management, including the roles of two Union ministers.

These ministers, however, are from an important UPA ally and the government is not too keen on pushing them beyond a point. Having lost its own minister, the Congress would like to hit back — but not by endangering its own future.

“We can say that the (cricket administration) system will become more organised now. We know the extent of illegalities in the IPL and the people involved in it. People like Lalit Modi will find the going tough now,” a senior Congress leader said.

Government sources dismissed as impractical the demand to ban or take over the IPL, voiced by several MPs in the Lok Sabha today.

Leaders such as Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad clamoured for a ban on the T20 league, describing it as a huge racket involving money-laundering, betting and “ayyashi” (pleasure trips).

They suggested that black money from Swiss banks and other tax havens were being pumped into the league. But the statements are being seen more as rhetoric than based on hard evidence.

The BJP, which had led the calls for Tharoor’s head, made ritualistic noises about a thorough probe into the IPL after trying in vain to shift the focus to other issues.

Responding to the MPs’ demands, the finance minister said: “All aspects including sources of funding and routes through which the funds arrived would be looked into. Appropriate action as per law would be taken. No guilty (person) or wrongdoer will be spared.”

The Congress indicated its desire to fight a limited battle by targeting the BJP alone for its “hypocrisy and double standards”

Read more HERE.

Target Modi, not VIP allies

New Delhi, April 19: The government is expected to concentrate its firepower on IPL chief Lalit Modi but unlikely to go the whole hog in its efforts to clean up the IPL mess as that could involve hunting down “very big players”, sources said today.

The finance ministry has asked its various investigative and enforcement wings to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the IPL commissioner’s assets and financial deals. The corporate affairs ministry has also entered “the picture”, as minister Salman Khursheed put it.

While the tax department is piling heat on the BCCI by seeking replies to nine queries by April 23, the Enforcement Directorate is looking into deals abroad.

The notice to the BCCI — the board is extremely wary of government interference — is being seen as a loud signal to dump Modi, while the enforcement drive is being interpreted as a portent of a tougher crackdown if he holds his ground. The directorate is known for strong-arm tactics such as arrests and imprisonment.

That the issue stayed on the government’s radar a day after Shashi Tharoor resigned was evident from the fact that the Prime Minister was briefed on the IPL issue by BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla during the day.

The Modi camp so far has an ally in Sharad Pawar but it is not clear which way the NCP leader will swing if the government persists with its crackdown on the IPL chief. Some IPL franchisees have also started speaking against Modi, though Vijay Mallya, who owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore, is standing by him in public.

Although finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today told the Lok Sabha that “no wrongdoer would be spared”, not everyone in the Congress supports the idea of risking the government to cleanse the cricket administration.

Some party leaders have requested the government to look into the whole gamut of cricket management, including the roles of two Union ministers.

These ministers, however, are from an important UPA ally and the government is not too keen on pushing them beyond a point. Having lost its own minister, the Congress would like to hit back — but not by endangering its own future.

“We can say that the (cricket administration) system will become more organised now. We know the extent of illegalities in the IPL and the people involved in it. People like Lalit Modi will find the going tough now,” a senior Congress leader said.

Government sources dismissed as impractical the demand to ban or take over the IPL, voiced by several MPs in the Lok Sabha today.

Leaders such as Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad clamoured for a ban on the T20 league, describing it as a huge racket involving money-laundering, betting and “ayyashi” (pleasure trips).

They suggested that black money from Swiss banks and other tax havens were being pumped into the league. But the statements are being seen more as rhetoric than based on hard evidence.

The BJP, which had led the calls for Tharoor’s head, made ritualistic noises about a thorough probe into the IPL after trying in vain to shift the focus to other issues.

Responding to the MPs’ demands, the finance minister said: “All aspects including sources of funding and routes through which the funds arrived would be looked into. Appropriate action as per law would be taken. No guilty (person) or wrongdoer will be spared.”

The Congress indicated its desire to fight a limited battle by targeting the BJP alone for its “hypocrisy and double standards”

Read more HERE.

SRK and KJo to host first ever IPL Awards

Best buddies Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar have co-hosted many Bollywood award functions in the past and now for the first time ever the duo will be seen hosting the grand IPL Awards scheduled to take place on April 23rd in Mumbai this year. The announcement was made by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi at a function in Mumbai yesterday.

With the whole nation being gripped by the IPL frenzy, the organizers have decided to come up with the first ever IPL Awards which will recognize the best performances and honour the best players of the IPL. Some of the categories are Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Best Fielder, Best IPL Debutante, Most Consistent Performer, Most Dramatic Performance and Breakthrough Performance. The winners in these categories will be selected by an esteemed jury comprising of Lalit Modi, Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Harsha Bhogle, Javagal Srinath and umpire Simon Taufel. Apart from the jury awards there is also a separate section for the Viewers' Choice Awards where cricket fans will get to vote for their favorite performers from the IPL.

In true IPL style, the evening will be a fusion of cricketing and entertainment excellence, with some of India's biggest names, including AR Rahman, Shilpa Shetty, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan, set to deliver their trademark energy and style. Besides, the event will also feature performances by some leading cricketers, who will show they are equally talented off the field too.

With the who's who of the cricketing and entertainment world in attendance, this high profile event surely seems like the perfect finish to what has been a fantastic 45 days of non-stop entertainment.

LINK

SRK and KJo to host first ever IPL Awards

Best buddies Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar have co-hosted many Bollywood award functions in the past and now for the first time ever the duo will be seen hosting the grand IPL Awards scheduled to take place on April 23rd in Mumbai this year. The announcement was made by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi at a function in Mumbai yesterday.

With the whole nation being gripped by the IPL frenzy, the organizers have decided to come up with the first ever IPL Awards which will recognize the best performances and honour the best players of the IPL. Some of the categories are Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Best Fielder, Best IPL Debutante, Most Consistent Performer, Most Dramatic Performance and Breakthrough Performance. The winners in these categories will be selected by an esteemed jury comprising of Lalit Modi, Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Harsha Bhogle, Javagal Srinath and umpire Simon Taufel. Apart from the jury awards there is also a separate section for the Viewers' Choice Awards where cricket fans will get to vote for their favorite performers from the IPL.

In true IPL style, the evening will be a fusion of cricketing and entertainment excellence, with some of India's biggest names, including AR Rahman, Shilpa Shetty, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan, set to deliver their trademark energy and style. Besides, the event will also feature performances by some leading cricketers, who will show they are equally talented off the field too.

With the who's who of the cricketing and entertainment world in attendance, this high profile event surely seems like the perfect finish to what has been a fantastic 45 days of non-stop entertainment.

LINK

BREAKING NEWS - IPL teams for Pune (Sahara) and Kochi (Rendezvous gp.)

Heard on Twitter:

sardesairajdeep

breaking news: sahara gets pune, rendezvous group kochi in ipl auction. shashi tharoor must be smiling!
1 minutes ago via web

BREAKING NEWS - IPL teams for Pune (Sahara) and Kochi (Rendezvous gp.)

Heard on Twitter:

sardesairajdeep

breaking news: sahara gets pune, rendezvous group kochi in ipl auction. shashi tharoor must be smiling!
1 minutes ago via web

IPL points table

Teams	Played	Won	Loss	N/R	Points	R/R
Delhi Daredevils	2	2	0	0	4	+0.71
Kolkata Knight Riders	3	2	1	0	4	0.64
Chennai Super Kings	2	1	1	0	2	+0.60
Deccan Chargers	2	1	1	0	2	+0.50
Mumbai Indians	1	1	0	0	2	+0.20
Bangalore Royal Challengers	2	1	1	0	2	+0.11
Kings XI Punjab	2	0	2	0	0	0.43
Rajasthan Royals	2	0	2	0	0	0.80

LINK

IPL points table

Teams	Played	Won	Loss	N/R	Points	R/R
Delhi Daredevils	2	2	0	0	4	+0.71
Kolkata Knight Riders	3	2	1	0	4	0.64
Chennai Super Kings	2	1	1	0	2	+0.60
Deccan Chargers	2	1	1	0	2	+0.50
Mumbai Indians	1	1	0	0	2	+0.20
Bangalore Royal Challengers	2	1	1	0	2	+0.11
Kings XI Punjab	2	0	2	0	0	0.43
Rajasthan Royals	2	0	2	0	0	0.80

LINK

IPL & India have made fun of us: Afridi

It was one heck of IPL auction, asn't it? Even with reduced prices, this auction had all the bumper masala. For one, ICL players coming to IPL, for those who just came back from hibernation, ICl was a break away T20 league, set up by Zee Tv CEO, which ended last season, and players who were playing in ICL were also banned from playing in their international teams for te period of 2 or may be 3 years.

Shane bond, even after a long long long lay off, and such injury laden career, got quite a bid, on the other hand, biggest shock, none of the Pakistani player even received a bid.



The reaction was immediate and emotionally charged. Afridi, who was billed as one of the major attractions of Tuesday’s auction, said from Brisbane that he was disappointed and upset with the way things panned out. ‘‘ The way I see it, the IPL and India have made fun of us and our country by treating us this way,’’ Afridi said.

Senior all-rounder Abdul Razzaq said he saw the snub to Pakistani players as a conspiracy between the IPL and the Indian government to insult Pakistani players . ‘‘ They have basically tried to hurt our cricket and image and this is most disappointing because I believe there should be no politics in sports,’’ he said.

All-rounder Sohail Tanvir, one of the stars of Rajasthan Royals’ IPL winning team in 2008, was no less bitter: ‘‘ We sent names because we thought the franchises wanted us, but if it is all about politics and security they should be clear about it,’’ Tanvir said.

Read the full article by clicking here

IPL & India have made fun of us: Afridi

It was one heck of IPL auction, asn't it? Even with reduced prices, this auction had all the bumper masala. For one, ICL players coming to IPL, for those who just came back from hibernation, ICl was a break away T20 league, set up by Zee Tv CEO, which ended last season, and players who were playing in ICL were also banned from playing in their international teams for te period of 2 or may be 3 years.

Shane bond, even after a long long long lay off, and such injury laden career, got quite a bid, on the other hand, biggest shock, none of the Pakistani player even received a bid.



The reaction was immediate and emotionally charged. Afridi, who was billed as one of the major attractions of Tuesday’s auction, said from Brisbane that he was disappointed and upset with the way things panned out. ‘‘ The way I see it, the IPL and India have made fun of us and our country by treating us this way,’’ Afridi said.

Senior all-rounder Abdul Razzaq said he saw the snub to Pakistani players as a conspiracy between the IPL and the Indian government to insult Pakistani players . ‘‘ They have basically tried to hurt our cricket and image and this is most disappointing because I believe there should be no politics in sports,’’ he said.

All-rounder Sohail Tanvir, one of the stars of Rajasthan Royals’ IPL winning team in 2008, was no less bitter: ‘‘ We sent names because we thought the franchises wanted us, but if it is all about politics and security they should be clear about it,’’ Tanvir said.

Read the full article by clicking here