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'Jazbaa' runs the risk of falling into a overcooked and loud thriller

Aishwarya Rai's comeback movie 'Jazbaa', which is an official remake of a 2007 South Korean crime thriller film 'Seven Days', comes across as loud and slightly melodramatic as far as the first look is concerned. The trailer shows that the film has a yellow and brown Tint, which gives it a slightly different look but the way junior Mrs Bachchan is shown teary-eyed and all panicky, it remains to be seen if it can actually touch the emotional chord of the audience.  

I have full faith on the Korean film as it has won multiple nominations and awards at Grand Bell Awards, Blue Dragon Film Awards and Korean Film Awards in 2008 but how well Sanjay Gupta will rework the script and screenplay and importantly implement it remains a questions.

Gupta has films such as the shootout movies, Kaante, Musafir and Zinda to his credentials and if he can keep the script tight without making it loud or turning Aishwarya into a super mom, the film may go on to be a hit. Of course, needless to say, Irrfan is a big positive. Hope Gupta's 'jazbaa' is reflected on the screen on October 9th. I personally have low expectations but I want the movie to prove me wrong.

A forgotten hero basks in the hard-earned glory

Sports is cruel. It involves spending days and nights working harder, training like obsessed zombies with one dream of winning that coveted title that one might have dreamt since childhood.

Often in a country where parents are always worried about securing their children’s life and a career in studies seems to be the first option, to say it takes courage to tread a path in sport is an understatement. But still few souls walk that path, carrying the dreams of their parents and baggage of future on their shoulders.

The journey starts with a win here and there in some sub-junior and junior India ranking tournaments. But most voyage ends even before reaching the senior level. Those who make it to the next level too find themselves lost in the crowd of aspirants, all dreaming the same dream, waiting to write that illustrious chapter in their life that will not get lost in the pages of history.

So right from the first moment at the academy starts the battle to be the best. To first become good enough to wear the national colour and compete with the best in the world. What comes next is long hours at training and then playing the international challengers and the fight to move up the ranking ladder, which initially seems like a lift but with time, becomes a snake-and-ladder game, you go up and down every now and then. A win is not enough, no matter how hard you played. You have to weave a series of wins, you have to be consistent. From international challengers, you graduate to Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold and then one day you reach the Super Series tournaments. Needless to say only a few reaches that upper echelons of players.

When you reach that privileged group, you turn another page in your life. But then comes the main cruel face of sports when one day who tweak a muscle, tear a ligament, twist an ankle or wrongly turn your knee and your world comes crashing down. Suddenly you find yourself sitting at a corner, watching your peers and juniors surpassing ahead. You sit at the corner of your room starting at an uncertain future.

Each day you tell yourself to stay upbeat, each moment you push yourself harder to feel a bit better, sometimes you would shadow practice in front of mirror, you would speak to you coach and family and they would tell you all the right words, trying to inspire you and motivate, even as inside you will worry about the dwindling ranking. Sometimes you would look at a match and tell your pals how you had beaten him on that tournament.   

Seconds will feel like days, minutes like months and hours like years and when you recover and return to the court, it will seem like an age has passed. There would be that iota of doubt in your mind in that first hit of the shuttle in your racquet when you face that opponent in your first tournament. Every loss will remind you of the time lost to injury and every win a balm on the scars that don't seem to heal. 

Many wait for that balm to heal the scars, passing through days, breezing through tournaments after tournaments waiting for that one stroke of luck that will bring you back to your rightful place. But sometimes that wait becomes eternal and slowly and slowly the resolve gives in and one fine day, you decide enough is enough and you quit. But there is another breed who hope a little longer, pray a little more and most importantly persevere harder.

Ajay jayaram is one such player who has lived those uncertain nights. For seven months he was left on the sidelines, nursing his shoulder injury, making multiple visits to the doctor, going under the knife and then going through the unforgiving rehabilitation process which involves rigorous physiotherapy.

For a player who had come into touching distance of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics, only to lose the berth at the last moment after P Kashyap toppled him in ranking following a walkover in India open, Jayaram has shown what perseverance can earn you.

Not giving up is the antidote of failure and Jayaram's reaching the finals of the Korea super series proves that if one is determined nothing can stop you. Tomorrow this forgotten hero will take court against world No 1. Chen Long. No matter what the final holds for this Bangalore-based player, he has already inspired many like chief coach Pullela Gopichand once did when he won the All England championship in 2001 after recovering from knee injury. 

Yes, Sports is cruel but this cruelty makes your stronger, sometimes even giving birth to legends. As for Jayaram, greatness is still a far walk but then this has given him a moment to savour and no one can take away that moment from him ever. This is his time to bask in that glory and become an unforgettable part of history.