Puneeth Rajkumar and Suriya Sivkumar... Amazingly similar...!

Well I have been watching movies of both these superstars. And I am amazed by the way they constantly churn out hits after hits. Both of them had their fathers working in the industry before they came. Of course, Rajkumar was far more influential than Sivakumar. But both these sons have carved a niche for themselves and now, they are the hot properties and in the wanted list of all the leading producers and directors. The only difference is that Puneeth is more of a mass hero and has a huge fan following among the mass audience, while Suriya being very handsome, is the darling of kids and women. But there has been a constant attempt by both these men to change their image. One such attempt was Puneeth's "Milana", where he donned the role of a faithful husband. The movie which was initially written off by most of the people was a surprise hit and ran for over 1 year in Bangalore. It was even dubbed to Malayalam. And coming to Suriya, his pakka commercial "Ayan" is the only high grosser in 2009! as far as Kollywood is concerned. Most expected movies like Padikkadhavan,Kandasamy etc proved to be craps. Movies like Nadodigal, Unnai Pol Oruvan got rave reviews, but could not even come near " Ayan" in terms of collections.

And the similarity do not end here. Puneeth's recent Raj The Showman- the much awaited costlist Kannada movie proved to be a damp squib. And now its Suriya's turn. Adhavan- his first movie with the veteran KSRavikumar has proved to be a feast for Vijay and Ajith fans because now they have got something to mock at Suriya...!!!!!!!!!!!

But none of the less, both of them have some promising movies in their kitty. Our job is to look forward to them.

All the best!Puneeth and Suriya!!

Champions League?A success?

Well a major cricket tournament is going on in India without creating much ripples. Thats Champions League T20. Its namesake in soccer is the most watched event in the planet.But here it has failed to grab eyeballs. Its not that surprising because most of the teams are non-Indian and do not have a fan base here. And the early exit of all the 3 IPL teams have not helped the cause either. The so called saviour of Indian cricket, His Excellency, Mr.Lalit Modi will certainly not be a happy man at the end of this event. His life ambition of vanishing the inter nation tournaments and make the players join money spinning franchisees has taken a severe blow. Well, this is, of course, the maiden edition of CL-T20. But looking at the eye dazzling success of IPL 1 and 2, this is nowhere near the best. Its as though looking at the success of Mungaru Male and hoping all Bhat's films to be like it. Most of the matches being watched in empty stadiums is a sorry sight. All the best for next edition Sir. IPL was working well for you. Did you need this disaster??

Watson does it for Australia

Shane Watson blasted his second successive hundred to help Australia retain the ICC Champions Trophy, beating New Zealand .

Watson hit an unbeaten 129-ball 105 (10X4, 4X6) and starred in a 128-run stand with Cameron White (62) under tremendous pressure as Australia, chasing 201 against New Zealand's never-say-die pacers, overcame a wobbly start to reach 206 for four in 45.2 overs.

Earlier, a rudderless New Zealand, sans their injured skipper Daniel Vettori, fumbled and faltered their way to 200 for nine.

The Kiwis had just two decent partnerships in their innings but Martin Guptill (40) and Aaron Redmond (26) took 15.1 overs to raise 61 runs for the second wicket, while Neil Broom (37) and James Franklin (33) added 65 in 14.1 overs, which underlined their struggle in the middle.

For Australia, Nathan Hauritz claimed three for 37.

Reaction from New Zealand Cricket chief executive

Considering Australia's batting might, the match seemed to have all the ingredients of a lop-sided show but Shane Bond and Kyle Mills injected drama by dealing early blows that jolted Australia out of any complacency they had.

Click here to follow all the action as it unfolded

Bond's second delivery removed Tim Paine (1) and Mills then trapped in-form Ricky Ponting (1) in the next over to reduce Australia to six for two wickets inside three overs.

And New Zealand pacers maintained the same pressure as Australia crawled to 34 for two after 15 overs, an austerity they are not accustomed to.

Watson and White did not panic and ran hard between wickets, while helping themselves to the occasional boundary.

Reaction from Australia captain Ricky Ponting

The duo paced the chase with utmost maturity, first weathering the crisis and then opening up.

Mills eventually returned to remove White but the stand had yielded 128 precious runs by then and even Michael Hussey's (11) wicket came too late as Australia had pocketed the match by then.