India defeats NewZealand after 33 years

Dominant India overpowered New Zealand by 10 wickets in the 1st Test to take 1-0 lead. This is India’s first Test win in New Zealand since 1976. Sachin Tendulkar became the Man of the Match for his luminous 160 runs. Harbhajan Singh took six wickets in the match.

India wrapped up New Zealand’s second innings on 279 with the hosts giving a 38-run lead. Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid opened India’s 2nd innings to hit another 39 runs for the historic win. Gambhir hit a brisk 30 off 18 balls and Dravid added 8 runs to take India to a outstanding win in New Zealand after 33 years.

With their overnight total of 75/3, New Zealand’s Ross Taylor walked in to replace Kyle Mills, who was removed by Munaf Patel on the last ball of the third day’s play, along with Daniel Flynn continued batting on the crucial fourth day. The hosts were then trailing by 166 runs with seven wickets.

Zaheer Khan started the events with the new ball and tall and thin Ishant Sharma joined him in. Daniel Flynn looked alert since morning and cautiously raised third half-century of his Test career to take New Zealand past 100-run mark.

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Samsung plants films on your phone

Samsung has started on a new service considered to put movies on customers’ cell phones…and it’s got releases from major Hollywood studios ready to roll.

Looking to cash in on consumers’ need to be able to contact any manner of media from their mobile phones, Samsung has taken the wraps off a public beta version of Samsung Movies, a new service that facilitates users to buy or rent movies and television episodes for their mobile phones. The service features both current and library titles from major Hollywood studios (Warner Bros., Paramount, and Universal are on board); Samsung movies currently offers over 500 titles, and plans to offer 1,000 by the end of the first quarter of 2009, and 2,000 titles by the end of June.

Samsung is launching the service in the UK and Germany, and plans to extend the service to other European markets during 2009. The service is based on technology from the privately-owned movie retailer Acetrax, which has inked the distribution deals with the movie studios. Samsung is the first company to take Acetrax’s service to a global market. The service is currently only accessible for Samsung’s Tocco Ultra Edition (S8300) phone, but the company will support more devices soon. Users download the movies and television shows to their PCs, then sync them to their mobile device. The service uses Windows Media DRM.

A 24-hour movie rental is priced at £2.49 (about $3.50); movies can be purchased for £4.99 (about $7).

Samsung says it plans to inflate the service to include music gifts, as well as to enable notebook computer users and owners of Samsung TV’s to tap into the service.

Whether the world needs another iTunes competitor remains to be seen, but by focusing first on the mobile market rather than PCs, Samsung opens up another front of competition with the likes of Nokia, which offers a bevy of content services for mobile users.

There’s no word on whether Samsung plans to bring the service to the North American market.

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Firaaq Movie Review

A Percept Picture Company (PPC) production, “Firaaq”, footed on the 2002 Godhra incident in Gujarat, is the only Indian entrance in 35th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TFF).

Clash between Hindus and Muslims continues to burn into violence in India, and is often fuelled by political interests. Firaaq begins in 2002 in the state of Gujarat, where three thousand Muslims died in communal riots. In an early scene of almost Shakespearean gravity, two Muslim men dig a mass grave for the victims. From there, the story jumps forward one month, away from the direct physical effects of the conflict to the more shapeless – but increasingly constant – inner dispute.

When Hanif and Muneera return to the modest home they had fled during the violence, they find it ransacked. With their lives shattered not simply by destruction but by disloyalty from their neighbours, Hanif seeks revenge. Elsewhere, middle-class Hindus Sanjay and Arati were untouched by the hostilities, but are met with new moral challenges. Serene older musician Khan Saheb (Naseeruddin Shah) has tried to outdo religious differences, but as a Muslim living in a Hindu neighbourhood, he now finds this position more complex. At the same time, Anu and Sameer, an intermarried Hindu-Muslim couple, finally face the tensions they have long concealed.

Firaaq has been directed by Nandita Das, well-known Indian actor who has appeared in such films as Deepa Mehta’s Fire (96) and Earth (98). Firaaq (08) is her feature writing and directing debut.

Firaaq is an Urdu word that means both separation and mission. Like this daring and essential debut film, the word recognizes divisions while pointing a way forward to hope.

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New Hindi Serial:Koi Aane Ko Hai

It is a k-soap from the firm of Balaji Telefilms but is with a “difference”, or so, states its producer and TV czarina Ekta Kapoor.

“Real stories are its USP (unique selling point). All stories are based on the incidents that have happened in various parts of the country,” she said; while officially announcing the start on of her new serial Koi Aane Ko Hai, based on supernatural theme, here on Friday evening.

“Since the stories are not fantasy of someone’s imagination, even the treatment is not regular. It is the reality (of the story) and not superficial aspects or special effects that will scare the audience,” she said.

The first story has a Maharashtra background. The second is from West Bengal. Similarly, we have selected stories from all parts of the country, she said.

Furthermore, unlike her earlier TV dramas, some of which have run for almost a decade, Koi… consists of mini-series of around 20 episodes.

“Since it is based on real stories, we cannot add drama to it to keep it alive,” Ekta said. as a result, the number of episodes in each series has been limited to not more than 20-26, she said.

Koi…, covering the entire area of the supernatural elements, haunted houses and so on, is aired every Friday and Saturday on Colours.

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