Fond memories of Malgudi Days

Before Indian television was taken over by a wave of soap operas and over the top cartoons, Malgudi Days on Doordarshan presented a down-to-earth look into Indian society.

The show never strived to be extra ordinary. Directed by the famous Kannada actor/director Shankar Nag, the show would nonchalantly steal the hearts of viewers with it's ordinary plots set in the imaginary village of Malgudi. The show was shot entirely in Shimoga district, around 50-odd kilometres from Manipal. The house, which served as the location for the show, still stands today, as hospitable as ever.

The show had a different kind of impact on it's viewers in comparison to the shows dominating Indian television today. Even though Malgudi was imaginary, it painted a realistic picture of a typical Indian household.

Airing on Sunday mornings, the show is still fondly remembered for the innocence of Swami played by Master Manjunath. I had the pleasure of meeting the lead actor Anant Nag in Manipal recently. He recalls acting in the show as a beautiful experience. At the time, the potential of Malgudi Days was not clear but now, almost thirty years since the show first started airing on Doordarshan, it is safe to say that it has carved a niche for itself among followers of Indian televison.

Today, television in India is dominated by never-ending soap operas and grossly exaggerated shows like Çhota Bheem'. In comparison, Malgudi Days kept it simple and won it's viewers over. The show and it's characters have since taken a life of their own, if only in the minds of it's viewers. 

A still from Malgudi Days

Anand: An emotional ride

As far as reviews go, this one was tough. In the end, you will remember Anand (1971) for the final scene. More particularly, this dialogue

“Babumoshai, zindagi aur maut uparwale ke haath hai jahanpanah. Usse na toh aap badal sakte hain na main. Hum sab toh rangmanch ki kathputhliyan hain jinki dor uparwale ki ungliyon main bandhi hain. Kab, kaun, kaise uthega yeh koi nahi bata sakta hai.”- Anand

Anand follows the emotional journey of Anand's (Rajesh Khanna) life. He's diagnosed with cancer and lives his last few months trying to spread as much joy as he can. He meets Dr. Bhaskar Bannerjee (Amitabh Bachchan), a workaholic who learns to appreciate all aspects of life from Anand.

The text-book straightforward storyline is helped by Khanna's presence. His whole-hearted performance gets you invested in the story. The bonding scenes of Bachchan and Khanna is hard to ignore.

But it is obvious that the movie is set up for the finish. You can see the ending from a long way out but it doesn't matter. You watched the movie through Anand's eyes and you want to see it through with him. With moving dialogues and heart-felt delivery, the movie manages to keep your interest together until the ending, when the emotion takes over and elevates the movie to another level.

Bachchan is solid. This is before he exploded as India's biggest movie star yet his delivery is on point for most of the movie. You can sense he's not reached his A-game yet but he's getting there. Khanna is the soul of the movie. He is the ultimate protagonist who keeps you hooked. His story arc is the crux of the movie and he does not disappoint.

As far as early 70's movies go, this one is up there in and around the top 3.

Iconic sporting moments captured by photography

A timeline of Photography through sporting history

 

1. Jesse Owens crashes 1936 Berlin Olympics winning four gold medals. 
Source: Bild

2. Roger Bannister runs a mile under four minutes for the first time ever
Source: BBC 

  
3. Miracle on Ice – United States stun the ice hockey world
Photographer: Heinz Kluetmeier for the Sports Illustrated 

4. Diego Maradona – One man army at the 1982 World Cup
Photographer: Steve Powell

5. Michael Jordan in the 1988 Slam Dunk contest
Photographer: Walter Iooss Jr.
 

 
6. Packed house at Lord's - 2002
Source: Wisden

7. Federer and Agassi clash on top of the Burj (2005)
Source: AP

 
8. Bird's eye view of Singapore before the city hosted the first ever night race in Formula 1
Source: BBC

9. Riders at the Tour de France 2010
Source: Guardian Sport 

 

10. Usain Bolt at the finish line as he sets the World Record in the 200 metre race at London 2012
Source: Guardian Sport - John Collins

While early photography was centered on close-up photos, today, 

with the technology available, sports is being covered by complex bird's eye view

photos to capture every angle of sporting events.

Miracle on Ice

February 22 1980.

It was a day like any other in the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. The Soviet Union faced the United States of America in the Men's Ice-Hockey tournament medal-round match. The Soviet Union (USSR) was the heavy favorite going in. They had won the gold medal in the four Olympic Games leading up to New York's 1980 edition. With a dominant record of 27-1-1 (wins-ties-losses) in that period, few gave the United States any hope that day. 

The game began with USSR taking the early lead. The game was over by the tenth minute when USSR, after having forced the American goaltender Jim Craig to make several saves, finally broke through by scoring the first goal. The writing was on the wall. USSR would run away with the game defeating USA in domina....Wait what? The USA had tied the score at 1-1. Lightning had struck.

The Soviets however gained their composure back in no time. 2-1 to the USSR. Surely it's over now. Lightning can't strike twi... 2-2! Lightning did strike twice. At the end of the first period, the game was tied at 2-2. What was happening?

The third period began. There were doubts before the game that the USA players would have the stamina to match the Soviets through out the game. USSR would tire USA out and win easil...3-3! The capacity crowd now believed the impossible.

With 10 minutes remaining Mark Pavelich passed the puck to Eruzione, who had just come on to the ice. The American made no mistake, firing past the Soviet keeper. With the scoreline reading 4-3, USA were ten minutes away from creating history.

During the final minute of the game, as the U.S. team tried to clear the zone (move the puck over the blue line, which they did with seven seconds remaining), the crowd began to count down the seconds left. Sportscaster Al Michaels, who was calling the game on ABC along with former Montreal Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden, picked up on the countdown in his broadcast, and delivered his famous call

“

11 seconds, you've got 10 seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles?! YES!!! ”

David had beaten Goliath.

The USA would go onto win the Gold medal at the Olympics but it is their game against USSR that is remembered the most.

This radio broadcast (linked below) leads to the play-by-play audio commentary for this historic game.