He is the man half-hidden behind the stumps. He moves once a while, to reveal himself, and to make the spectators know: I am here too. Jokes apart, after the captain, this guy behind the stumps, the wicketkeeper, is indeed the most important member of the team. Catches save matches, one of the sports journalist shares his wisdom. A wicketkeeper can change the fate of the game. What is intriguing is the intense, focused look in his eyes. As if he was born to catch the ball. But, he can't do it without an extremely focused mind and great concentration. So, everything in wicket-keeping boils down to one word: concentration. We dig out what the wicketkeepers at the ICL do to hone this skill.

"I did chanting and yoga for a while for concentration," says 25-year-old wicketkeeper with Mumabi Champs, Subhojit Paul. "The real action is on the field, which is the actual test of concentration. So, more than anything else what helps me to be focused is the game itself." Agrees yet another wicketkeeper from Chennai Superstars, 28-year-old Hemant Kumar. "I tried everything, all kinds of yoga, meditation, but only practice in the field helps me to stay focused during the match." Laughs Hemant, "Wicket keeping is a kind of study, which you have to go through, especially when you are thrown into it. All said and done, practice makes a man perfect."

Ditto for 22-year-old Ibrahim Khaleel of Hyderabad Heroes who finds that no external effort can improve concentration. "Only spending more time on the field does," he says. "Once, I am in the field, concentration comes naturally."

Guys, you make it sound so easy. Is it? "Of course. You don't have a choice. As a wicketkeeper you have to catch the ball, which means you have to concentrate on it," offers Hemant. As per Ibrahim, "If you think too hard to concentrate, you can end up missing the catch. Relax and take it easy, this is the funda."

Only a soldier in the battlefield knows the situation. But how to control a wandering mind? As per Hemant, "The mind wavers if you are not focused. There is no chance of the mind going astray, especially in a 20-20 series. All the same, there is some scope of mind juggling but that too arises due to fatigue."

No scope of distraction for Subhojit as well. "When you know it is a game and so much depends on one catch, a wicketkeeper just can't afford to let the mind travel. In fact, there is a constant pressure of performing well, which does not let my dimaag go anywhere." Khaleel, on the other hand, feels cheering the team, sharing notes with the captain and bowlers between the game helps to keep the focus on the match.

And lastly, what makes a good wicketkeeper: soft hands and hawk eyes? Quips Subhojit, "Yes, to a great extent. A wicketkeeper must have soft hands, this allows him to catch the ball properly." Adds Khaleel, "A wicketkeeper needs to watch the bowler and the batsman closely in order to judge where the ball will finally end. And, of course, lots of concentration."

jasmine@tribunemail.com 

After Dhoom, John Abraham teams up with Abhishek Bachchan once again in Dostana and says they have developed such an incredible rapport that he simply dotes on his co-star.

"Abhishek is not a co-star or a colleague. He's a friend. I dote on him. I love him to death. We never compete. We complement each other in Dostana.

We share a great chemistry. Abhishek and I are a couple in the film," John said.

Abhishek added: "It was wonderful to shoot with John again after Dhoom. It was fun on the sets because we were all friends." John and Abhishek, who get along like a house on fire on the sets of Dostana, regret that they had to shoot the Maa da ladla music video for the movie separately.

The film is being produced by Karan Johar and is being directed by Tarun Mansukhani.

Mansukhani said it was a conscious decision to have Abhishek and John shoot the song separately.

"They shot individually so the masti of the rest of the movie was missing on the sets. But I deliberately didn't shoot the song with John and Abhishek together. I wanted at least this one song to look different from the rest of the film where they're constantly together, fooling around and chumming it up. This is a music video which we'll use for promotion and probably for the end titles," Mansukhani said.

"The last shoot before this was for the song Desi girl where all of us were together. It was so much fun," he added.

"I left the song entirely to my director and to the choreographer Feroz (Farah Khan's assistant for 10 years)," Karan said.

While Priyanka Chopra plays the female lead in the film that releases November 14, leggy lass Bipasha Basu makes a special appearance in the movie in a song sequence.

It has been a while since viewers got to see a good situational comedy. And expectations are high from talented actor Vinay Pathak's first production venture Dasvidaniya.

The actor-turned-producer had the viewers in splits in Bheja Fry along with Rajat Kapoor and Ranvir Shorey.

Directed by first time filmmaker Shashant Shah, Dasvidaniya, which means good bye in Russian, is a bittersweet situational comedy that revolves around Amar Kaul (Vinay Pathak), whose existence is easily forgotten among the millions of people in Mumbai's ever-increasing population.

Amar, as a shy and quiet guy, lives a dull and monotonous life in the city and is almost non-existent to people around him. It is his obsession for making his daily to-do list every morning that keeps him motivated to look forward to another day in his life.

And then suddenly his doctor tells him that he will die within three months.

Then begins a journey of a lifetime for Amar, where he sets out to write his final to-do list.

Experimental films have carved a niche for themselves and, going by the past performances of such films at the box office, Dasvidaniya may succeed in entertaining people.

Fashion was expected to expose the cold realities of India's fashion industry, but it ends up revealing Madhur Bhandarkar's limitations as a writer and director.

Just like his last two films, Corporate and Traffic Signal, in Fashion too Bhandarkar skims the surface instead of digging deep. For those who are aware of his style of filmmaking, it is a predictable narrative.

The movie, touted as his costliest and most glamorous so far, is said to be doing well at the box office. But it doesn't go into the heart of the industry, such as the business aspect, the intricate backstage work that goes into shows and aspects of design.

Fashion shows modelling as a dazzling profession on the outside but as brutal from inside and this is one of the drawbacks of the film. Another problem with the storyline is that despite being successful, the two starry-eyed girls from small towns played by Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut are often shown as leading miserable personal lives - a cliche if there ever was one.

Kangana, whose character is reportedly modelled on real life model Geetanjali Nagpal, is a high-profile model with loads of attitude. She indulges in drugs, leading to her downfall. Priyanka too goes through the same.

In reality, there are several successful models leading a normal and contented life.

Another flaw is that Bhandarkar portrays virtually all male designers as gay.

It may be certainly an uphill task to have a gripping storyline about people changing their clothes frequently - there are 11 character-based ramp walks and Priyanka has 137 dress changes in the film! Bhandarkar, whose Chandni Bar and Page 3 showed the stark reality of the lives of bar dancers and high profile socialites, could have made the film more arresting and informative with greater detailing and research.

From the beginning, the movie throws the viewer into the chaos of the fashion world but leaves viewers looking for more meat.

Bhandarkar, who co-scripted the story with Anuradha Tiwari and Ajay Monga, fails to capture the intricacies of the fashion world. Bhandarkar's Fashion will perhaps be remembered as just another superficial movie on the style industry like Hollywood's Gia.— IANS

A modern loungy feel with a sweeping view of the greens. Yes, this is the feeling one gets on the leather couches of the renovated first-floor bar of the Chandigarh Golf Club, which was inaugurated on Monday by the club president D.S. Bains.

The bar has a crushed glass back-lit facade that gives a classy look to the room, which was brought down by the previous committee about six months back. The heavy expenses on the ground-floor bar renovation stopped all work on the first floor bar.

The new committee wanted a classy look bar with the least amount of expenditure. They could not have asked for a better deal than the Uppals, who promised a classy bar at no cost to the club.

So, what did the new bar finally cost? The Uppal Housing Limited spokesperson at the briefing said initially, the expenditure was made out to be Rs 5 lakh. That went up to Rs 18 lakh. " "After that we stopped counting. And please don't ask for more details," he said.

But what stands out in the new bar is the diffused lighting, with emphasis on table lamps. In the night, the shining wallpaper behind the draped curtains lights up to give a stunning effect.

Bains called the facilities at the renovated bar "a five-star luxury." The Uppals had lowered the floor level and gave it the finish of laminated wood.

What is striking is the ambience----- sleek yet contemporary.

The club president said the windows open out into the ninth and 18th greens of the club. And when the greens are flood-lit at night, the view is breathtaking.

Bains said the Uppals would be given a corporate membership of the club. He also thanked the United Breweries who had pooled in with a contribution of Rs 4.5 lakh for the split airconditioners and other refrigeration facilities.

The wait of six months for the bar to reopen has been worthwhile. The members now have a swank place to chill out in.

One interesting vehicle it is. Even with four wheels, it isn't a car and with the steering handle like that of a scooter, it isn't one either. The automobile has its own distinct nomenclature and what makes it popular is its multi utility. Drive it on the rocky terrains of Himalayas or on the white beaches of Goa, you can drive it almost anywhere and everywhere. And so it is apt to its name—All-Terrain Vehicle popularly known as ATV.

"Though the concept of ATVs is new to India, the initial response we have got is tremendous," avers Rajiv Bali, all India Polaris distributor of ATV's. The vehicle has been used extensively in West, especially by the US forces in Iraq. "It is a versatile vehicle that can be used on any landscape and thus has a greater utility for armed forces."

Proving the point Rajiv says, “ATV as a part of the Team Thunderbolt that won the Raid de Himalaya rally went up till Kaza (200 Kms ahead of Manali) in Himachal Pradesh.” He feels that India will soon discover the potential of this vehicle.

But when it comes to clientele, kids top the list. "It serves the purpose of amusement ride for them and are safe to drive." Any other sector it has made its way into? "Top notch hotels in India and even some film stars recently placed orders for ATVs, something that will soon make it very popular.

For the next year, Rajiv has already something big in his mind to make this automobile more popular, "A full-fledged team will drive ATVs as the part of the team in Raid de Himalaya, 2010". — TNS

To convert your DVD, VCD player and Laptops into accessories with your home theatre, all you need is a little 'plug-in'. Attach the "video out" port of your DVD VCD player to "video in" port of the screen and "audio out" port to the "audio in" of your Audio system, for that extra edge. Also you can connect your laptop to your home theatre system with the Super connectivity option. If it's in-built then it's easy but otherwise just grab a S-Video to S-Video cable or a S-Video to video-out cable, which will cost you anything between Rs.50 to Rs.100, from any PC Shop.

In order to provide a 360-degree movie viewing experience to users, Seventymm has introduced 'Seventymm Ticket Counter'—a movie ticket booking feature on its portal. Movie enthusiasts can now book their ticket through Seventymm and get latest updates about the movies and show timings in the theaters. Seventymm Ticket Counter is powered by one of the largest players in movie ticket booking area - www.bookmyshow.com.

It is a 24x7 online ticket booking facility where users have a wide range of options to choose from the drop down list - movie, show time and theaters. For more convenience the ticket availability status is highlighted in orange that makes booking much easy and movie watching a more exciting experience. Consumers now have a strong alternative to serpentine queues at multiplexes.

Subhanker Sarker, COO, Seventymm said, "Seventymm Ticket Counter is a value added feature that our patrons are sure to appreciate and is another step towards offering a complete and well rounded movie viewing experience to them."

Rajesh Shah, Head of Marketing, BookMyShow said, "BookMyShow is delighted to partner with Seventymm. Common endeavors in entertainment only made us natural partners. We're certain that this will pave way for an unparalleled experience for Seventymm users." —TNS

India is lagging far behind many countries when it comes to creating new innovative products and technologies, according to a new study. It figures among the nations with lowest ranks in a new list of the world's most innovative countries, based on the time it takes for new technologies and products to take-off.

Deepa Chandrasekaran, assistant professor of marketing at Lehigh University, and Gerard J. Tellis, a professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, prepared the list was prepared on the basis of a major study that evaluated 31 countries. They analysed 16 different product categories over a time span of 50 years.

"The changing dynamics of the global marketplace are redefining the concept of innovativeness. More products are being introduced at a quick rate, and the ability of a nation to embrace those changes is a true indicator of how innovative it has become," said Chandrasekaran.

The researchers said that Japan, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, and Denmark rounded out the top five. On the other hand, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China were ranked lowest.

Reporting their findings in the journal Marketing Science, the researchers revealed that Japan and the U.S. were the best countries for managers who wished to launch new products in innovative and larger markets. They further said that the Nordic countries, along with Switzerland and Austria, were found to offer smaller but highly innovative test markets.

Their findings suggest that South Korea has a relatively short time-to-takeoff of new products, and leads the world in penetration of Broadband and 3G technologies.

The authors count culture, wealth, product class, product vintage, and prior takeoffs among factors that drive takeoffs. According to them, 'time-to-takeoff' is shortening over time and converging across developed countries.

"What we're learning is that culture plays a significant role in influencing how quickly a country is willing to embrace new products and technology, but it's not an exclusive indicator. Differences in wealth are also contributing factors. Taken together, we can get a pretty clear snapshot of a nation's innovativeness and its ability to adapt to the changing environment," says Tellis.

Chandrasekaran and Tellis noticed that products used for information or entertainment like cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, broadband, etc. took significantly shorter time to take off as compared to technologies used only for work-essentially household appliances like microwave ovens, dishwashers, freezers, tumble dryers and washing machines.—ANI