Veteran Indian pacer Praveen Kumar announces retirement from all forms of cricket
Wants to become bowling coach
Mumbai, Oct 20: Praveen Kumar, one of the more fascinating characters to have played for India in the last decade or so, has decided to retire from all forms of the game after 13 years of competitive cricket. He will now only play company cricket for ONGC and desires to become a bowling coach.
“I have no regrets. Dil se khela, dil sey bowling daala (I played and bowled with my heart). There are good bowlers waiting in the wings back in UP and I don’t want their careers to be affected. Mein khelunga toh ek ka jagah jayega, (If I play, one spot would go); it’s important to think of other players’ future as well. My time is over and I have accepted it. I’m happy and thankful to god for giving me this chance,” Kumar told The Indian Express.
“I want to become a bowling coach. People know that I have this knowledge. I think it’s a area which I can work dil se, I can pass on this experience to the young ones,” he said.
The combination of pride, vulnerability, elements of a free-spirited mast maula, and though he strived to present an emotional toughness, a deeply emotional persona jostled in him. Quick to hurt, quick to forgive, and a homegrown philosophy developed in life in Meerut saw him emerge as one of colourful cricketers of his time. A fan of the writer on underworld, Hussain Zaidi, he has a penchant to quote Chanakya but at the same breath he would say, “mobile mey acha lagta hai yeh quotes, asli zindagi kuch aur hai yaar!”. He is the kind of a person who, as he did once in Australia, uprooted stumps at a training session to defend his friend Rohit Sharma, who was being heckled by unruly fans.
He knew he had the art to bend the ball as he willed it, he knew he was street smart enough to push himself against the best and at times would be left bemused when batsmen successfully took him on. On his best days, he could make the ball talk: he would deliver from close to the stumps and get the ball to curve back in late. He could bowl yorkers, slower ones and had the self-confidence to try bowling short at the likes of Ricky Ponting in Australia. There were many days to remember, some to forget as well.
The sad times came when he was left in wilderness due to an illness after the 2011 world cup. After a vulnerable period, he was back on track with help from Rohit, who convinced of his skills, got him an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians. “Dost hai, mera brother hai. Tamam zindagi nahi bhoolonga (He is my friend, brother. Won’t ever forget his help all my life).” he had once said.
Hailed as a “magician” by Manoj Prabhakar, the UP pacer made his India debut in 2007 and played his last game in 2012. He picked 27 wickets in six Tests, with a five-for at Lord’s. Despite being the main bowler for India on the that tour, he never played a Test again. The year after he couldn’t make to the 2011 World Cup due to an injury – that miss still gnaws him- he was hit by dengue and had to miss out cricket for a while.
But after IPL revival, he made his peace with the way his career went in the last two years. “I have decided to retire from cricket. The decision is not taken in haste, I gave a thought over it and I felt it was a right time to say goodbye to the sport which gave me so much. I want to thank my family, BCCI, UPCA, Rajeev (Shukla) sir for giving me the opportunity to fulfill my dreams,” Kumar says.
One of his highlights remain the 2012 England Test tour and he brushes aside his own performances there, preferring to talk about how it would have been different for India had Zaheer Khan stayed fit. “Had Zak bhai hadn’t been injured Tests matches ka rukh kuch aur he hota, I still feel about it. And I can’t forget the CB series which we won in Australia, probably it was the highest point in my career,” he recalls.
In the here and now, even as he would continue playing for ONGC, the long-term goal is to become a bowling coach. “People tell me that I have this ability to share whatever I know about bowling to others. I want to become a bowling coach.”
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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It’s not a marketing gimmick: Vipul Shah on making ‘The Kerala Story 2’
Mumbai (PTI): Filmmaker Vipul Shah says he felt compelled to make a sequel to "The Kerala Story", his controversial 2023 movie about religious conversion, as he wanted to expose a "much larger evil" that extends beyond Kerala and across the country.
The sequel, titled “The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond”, hit theatres last week amid a huge controversy. The film depicts the stories of three Hindu women from different states who defy their families to marry Muslim men and are subsequently forced to convert.
Shah, who has co-written the film and produced it through the banner Sunshine Pictures, said there was no pre-planned franchise strategy after the first film, which earned over Rs 300 crore at the box office and won two National Awards.
“There was no plan to make even ‘Kerala Story 2’. But after ‘Kerala Story 1’, we started getting lots of stories, I realised that there is a much larger evil persisting not just in Kerala but across the country and we’ve to tell this story because it is much bigger and different than what happened in ‘Kerala Story 1’ and that's why we decided to make part 2.
"It was not like a marketing gimmick that, ‘Let's make part two, it's a good brand, let's take it forward’. No, nothing like that,” Shah told PTI in an interview.
While the first part, which was also based on the religious conversion and radicalisation of young women, was directed by Sudipto Sen, the follow-up is helmed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh.
Asked if there will be a third part of the franchise, Shah said there are no concrete plans yet.
“But if there are compelling stories coming our way, some new facts will come to light, maybe we will want to tell that story. But as of today, there is no plan,” he added.
While the creative process of making the sequel was “intense and passionate”, the release has been anything but smooth.
After its trailer was released online, the movie was labelled as hate propaganda by many on social media and in political circles.
Last week, a single bench of the Kerala High Court stayed the film’s release for 15 days. Shah subsequently moved a division bench in appeal, which set aside the earlier order, clearing the way for the movie’s release.
"We all knew the release would be a very big challenge. We had to go through a lot of scrutiny, first on social media, then through court. What's upsetting is that in this noise, the real subject which you reach out to people sometimes gets clouded. You don't want that, you want people to understand the reality of the subject. And look at it from a point of view that there are so many girls whose lives are getting lost.”
With the sequel now running in theatres, Shah claimed that theatre owners in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been receiving threats to pull the movie.
In Kerala, activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) staged protests outside theatres screening the film, saying they would not allow its screening as it allegedly depicts the state in a bad light.
“It is very disturbing news, some people are threatening the theatre owners in Kerala and Tamil Nadu... they are violating court orders by threatening theatre owners to stop showing the film.
"It is a violation of my right, it is a violation of the order of the court. I would urge both the governments and the chief ministers to take stringent action. Even if they don't agree with the film, it's fine, but that doesn't mean that they will not protect my right,” the producer added.
Though Shah has been making hard-hitting titles like “The Kerala Story” and “Bastar”, he said he has not abandoned commercial cinema.
He recently wrapped “Governor”, starring Manoj Bajpayee, and is gearing up for “Hisaab” with actor wife Shefali Shah and Jaideep Ahlawat.
“Since I made ‘Bastar’ and ‘Kerala Story’, people started thinking that I’ve decided that I will only make this kind of film. It is not true though. I’ll be making all kinds of films. That is what makes me creatively happy and I’m going to continue to do that,” said the producer, who has directed mainstream films like “Aankhen”, “Namastey London”, “Waqt” and “London Dreams”.
Shah said "Hisaab” is about a bank robbery, and he is looking to release it theatrically in June-July.
“I always wanted to make a unique bank robbery. It is unique, funny, and intelligent, just like ‘Aankhen’, which had three blind guys robbing bank. But this is extraordinary, far more believable, real and something like this has never been made in India,” the producer said.
