After the disappointment of the dress rehearsal, where we lost our no. 1 ranking, India won the final of the Compaq cup against Sri Lanka by 46 runs at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo. And once again "that" man was at the fore. Sachin Tendulkar who opened with Rahul Dravid, provided a masterclass in batting making a chanceless 138 in 133 balls to set up a huge target. Our bowling and fielding despite being tardy, came through the difficult onslaught by the Lankans. Bhajji's 3rd five wicket haul prevailed in making India win just their4th final in 21 finals appearances this decade. But a jinx was broken nevertheless.

Once again coming back to the Little Master, age does not dull this man and his hunger for runs and victories. In the post match presentation, Arun Lal questioned him that his demeanour was more relaxed nowadays but the man himself refused and said that it is only people who are beginning to perceive him differently.

But how much ever he might deny, there is definitely a consummate and stress-free approach to his batting for the last two years. With the emergence and maturity of players like Yuvraj, Gambhir, Sehwag and captain Dhoni, the Bombay bomber has just not had to think about conserving his wicket at any cost when there are proven match-winners waiting in the wings, a far cry from as recent as 6-7 years ago when he used to carry a million hopes on his shoulders.

Here's to Team India to continue with their excellent performances. They have been very consistent this year. We were the top team for less than 24 hours but the The Champions Trophy which is up next could rectify that.

So I was having a Quentin Tarantino overload. I watched Inglourious Basterds in the afternoon and came back home and watched Reservoir Dogs which was released in 1992. So on to the Basterds first.

All the plot lines cross each other at some point. As with all Tarantino movies there is a lot of violence and a huge amount of bloodshed juxtaposed with some comical situation. People get killed at the drop of a hat while the context of disposal might be inherently funny. Now while we know that the Nazi brutality was relentless, and whatever the savage treatment the Jews dish out to the Germans is justified, but after a while the movie's attempts at black comedy fall flat. There is really nothing funny about a man getting rammed in the head by a baseball bat for example.

This is the quintessential Tarantino though, which is seen from the scene in the cellar when the Basterds have a rendezvous with their contact. The dialogues, the drama and the tension is absolutely gripping. Unfortunately such scenes are few and far between. This is because the rest of the scenes have been unnecessarily stretched that make this supposed war movie extremely boring. The movie is atleast forty minutes too long.

If it is slightly watchable, it is because of Christoph Waltz and his mind-blowing performance as the opportunistic Colonel Landa. Also noteworthy is Melanie Laurent who brings real iciness to her character. But they cannot carry this movie alone. Brad Pitt, who is an above average actor anyway, gives perhaps the most pathetic performance of his career and most of the time you can't even understand what he is saying. The rest of the basterds are forgettable since all they have to do is to look mean and kill other people.

Tarantino delivers a real turkey this time which is neither an entertaining spoof, nor a solid war drama. His fictional take on WWII is a senseless collection of violent scenes serving no purpose and no justification. It is a let down from the man who gave us Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and .........

Now this is a movie ladies and gentlemen. Seven strangers get together for the perfect robbery - sounds vaguely familiar. Ofcourse our own desi version Kaante was inspired from this one.

The movie runs in a non-linear narration about the botched robbery when it is discovered that one of the men is a police informant. So the movie which takes place entirely in a warehouse delves into the past of the men and takes us step by step in discovering the culprit among them

While I cannot rate the performances brilliant but all the actors , Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi are just cool and do justice to their roles. Perhaps the only complaint one could make is that not all characters were explored fully. But that is a minor quibble as compared to the extremely sharp script and dialogue. Violence is cool and this movie is an instant classic.

There are two Tarantinos here. One, a creative genius who with his taste for delirium dazzles us with his uncharacteristoc cinema while the other is stuck in a moment , flogging a dead horse under the impression that the more blood you draw(aesthetically ofcourse QT style), the more glorious the message. Inglourious basterds is made on a larger scale and budget but Reservoir Dogs is substance with a hell of a lot style. Will the real Tarantino please stand up?