Wimbledon 2015

 The Don of Grand slam tennis concluded for the year 2015.

This is the only grand slam venue holding back the old charm. Though there are some changes made during the last few years that includes the center court score board, retractable roof for the centre court etc., 

There are some parts which are still untouched like the white dress code, green tinge (not only the ground but the entire backdrop)etc,. these long-standing things certainly retain the authenticity of this event.

I am following this event from 1984 finals where McEnroe reached his 5th consecutive finals and won the event for 3rd and last time against Connors. 

Hush!!!!shh!!! Please do not use this to determine my age….

Whereas rest of the Grand slams I picked up from 1988 due to the dependency factor with DD , those days only finals and later on SF were added to the telecast list. 

Both YSCA trophy and this event will have same day finals and I have to run back home from cricket ground to watch Wimbledon finals. Memorable days…

Every year this event will have its own surprises like Steffi’s first round exit in 1994 and year 2015 was not an exception with Rafa’s early exit. All other top seeds in men from one to four reached last eight. Though we did have some threats from Anderson and big serving Croatian Karlovic. Association with Martina Hingis has yielded good results for Peas and Sania.

Being a big fan of Roger I have to admit that Novak’s game in the finals was like surgeon with a racket wielding with precision, otherwise it would have  been difficult to counter Roger who was at his best for the first 14 days. 

The other champion Serena has already won the preceding  three grand slams and was a clear favorite in this one too. She did struggle but did not disappoint her fans.

As an Indian everyone would have noted the triumph in mixed and women final where the Indians partnered with Swiss great and won the championship. Also Sumit’s, Junior doubles title but very few would have followed the match where Rohan Bopana’s outset of Bryan brothers in the men’s doubles QF where the duo played some exciting tennis to remove the No1 seed.

Personally to me the resurgence of Roger is a takeaway from this year's event and the assurance given by HIM that he would return to this event next year too will keep my hopes alive for his 18^th GS title. 

When everyone were talking about his retirement he dismissed all by an immaculate tennis against Murray that proved yet again that he is an eternal genius. At 30+, with no GS titles after 2012 anyone would have taken the retirement with both hands but this Swiss great is continuing with a charm and perhaps brings smile not only to his fans but also to his critics.

Great ambassador to this sport

Finally… thanks to Ananya for guiding Prathiba in recording the first 2 sets of finals which I was not able to watch live since I was returning from Chennai…..

Papanasam

Off late I have seen dumbaku movies.... so to evade the sins (Pavam).....

Watched Papanasam twice during the first few days of release. There is a purpose for this, being a diehard fan of Kamal, thought I should watch more than once during week 1 since I did watch Dhirshyam once during its first week. If not it will be injustice….so watched Papanasam back to back.

In the past I have seen back to back movies of Kamal like Guna, Anbe Sivam, Kuruthi Punal..those are real back to back, immediate show after the previous. Those are unforgettable glorious days….from Deviparadise to Udhayam or to Kasi…using my bi-cycle as a racer bike.

In the above list I have watched some all alone ( esp Anbe Sivam), just to enjoy the performance and dialogue delivery with minimum disturbances around. Having seen the original version I was sure Papanasam will also fall under the above list, so ventured out all alone on Saturday and accomplished the task.

In the past I was never perturbed by this act of venturing alone since all those are during BM period ( Before Marriage) where as this one is in AM…makes a huge difference to your life style.

To reduce the ruffle took everyone in the family the next day so that I get perpetual food at home and this appended my back to back movie list of Kamal

Now to the movie….

Normally in his movie you will see his touches but in this one I think he let Jeetu to be independent except in choosing Gautami, I personally feel Meena would have added more charm to the role. Some changes to the original like adding the emotional element in the climax, more dialogues for MS Baskar since he is native of that place, language (Papanasam tamil) difficult to follow at some places, TVS XL Super replacing bicycle etc.

One notable change to the original version was the police character played by a comedian Shajon whereas in this one by Mani, only similarity between these two is that they hail from Kalabhavan. Mani created the Mahanadhi Thulukanam impact to this film. Big salute to Jeyamohan for his dialogue, some of the best ones are

1. கசாப்பு கடை கட்டறத ஆட்டு குட்டி வேடிக்கை பார்க்கறது
2. எங்க போறீங்க இன்னு கேக்கலாம்..தப்பு இல்லை
3. Entire climax dialogues both from Ananth Mahadevan and Kamal are super

No big change to original one and you will dare to make if the original was a clear winner in all aspects.