Meerabai Not Out : Preview

Characters




Mandira Bedi as Meera Achrekar

Meera Achrekar, a mathematics teacher at Vishwaprem Vidyalaya, has been a happy single for quite a while now. The great love of her life has been, and will always remain, cricket and Anil Kumble. The meticulous number cruncher is, despite not being the classic eye-candy-teenage-fantasy-fodder, a huge hit in class. And that's because Meera, unlike most teachers of her school, is more fanatical about her religion--cricket--than even the school cricket captain!

Living with her family in their small home in a Mumbai chawl, Meera was initiated into her temple of Wankhede Stadium by her brother, Manoj.

Mahesh Majrekar as Manoj Anant Achrekar

Manoj Anant Achrekar played cricket at the Ranji Trophy level. Sadly, middle class making-ends-meet economics got the better of the impressive Maharashtrian leggie, and passion had to make way for responsibility. Mahesh is today a cricket cynic. While Meera bunks classes and fights for season tickets to every cricket match that is played at Wankhede Stadium, Mahesh even steers clear off cricket scores!

Eijaz Khan as Arjun Awasthi


While the folk at Bhaktiyog Society have cast aspersions on her craze towards the game, the bigger problem that worries the Achrekar family is Meera's still-single status. Love suddenly blossoms with heart-specialist, Dr Arjun Sachdeva and Meera realizes that perhaps there is more to life than praying for Team India and Anil Kumble! However, In between this fabulous exchange of text messages, Valentine's Day outings and walks along Chowpatty, she confesses to Arjun that she is already married--to cricket!

Anupam Kher as Dr. Awasthi

Dr. Awasthi, Awasthi Senior, witnesses the effigy burning hysterical Meera scream on the road and is quite flummoxed and disgusted. Despite his father's outrage, Arjun hopes the face paint has camouflaged his beloved's countenance. Not quite though, till the day Arjun invites her over and Awasthi Senior discovers her explain batting techniques to Arjun's friends. He restrains his anger but it's quite obvious, that Meera Achrekar can't possibly be a bahu in this Maharashtrian family.

Synopsis

We love cricket. India loves the game!

Cricket is the reason for our very existence. Cricketers are our Gods -- our triumphant boys in blue. Our religion? -- Cricket! Our love? -- Cricket!! Our obsession? --CRICKET!!!

Well that's clear enough.

Meera Achrekar, a mathematics teacher at Vishwaprem Vidyalaya, has been happy and single for quite a while now. The great love of her life has been, and will always remain, cricket and Anil Kumble.

So, while maiden's heart beats for Anil Kumble and India's fortunes, the more important question is: will Meera be able to commit to her non-striker beau and keep her prospective father-in-law at bay?

This season's most charming, reality-struck romance is here to warm your heart! Cross your fingers and pray that Meera doesn't have to choose between love and Anil Kumble!

Aaja Nachle divides the classes

With Madhuri Dixit’s comeback vehicle Aaja Nachle hitting the theatres last Friday, there were discussions bound to happen on how the film has turned out and more importantly how is Madhuri looking on screen after a hiatus of 5 years.

However, by Friday afternoon, the film was being discussed neither for its direction nor performances but for a sudden controversy that it had stirred. Apparently, the title track of the film had a line which offended certain lower sections of the society (read Dalits). There were protests across Northern India and by Saturday, the makers of the film had no choice but to apologize and even remove the ‘so-called’ derogatory portions.

However, the artist of the above picture has put the whole episode in a unique manner. With the initial verdict out over the weekend, looks like both the upper class as well as the lower class (pun intended) don’t really have any reason to rush to the theatres to catch this Madhuri flick. This surely isn’t any reason to dance. It even leaves you pondering whether the saying “Any publicity is good publicity” always holds true.

Shah Rukh 'ads' up to Dhoni

Shah Rukh Khan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are not just superstars, but ‘shooting stars’ in their own rights. So, when both were shooting together for a commercial for Videocon at Yash Raj Studios on November 2, it was King Khan who guided Dhoni by providing acting tips to be at ease with the camera.

The ad shows both of these stars in role reversals, which means that SRK as a cricketer and Dhoni as an actor. During the start of the shoot, when Dhoni felt a bit uncomfortable before the camera, SRK waved his omnipresent magic wand and made him feel comfy and got through the shots with total perfection. In return, Dhoni shared some real great cricketing tips to SRK!

The ad has been conceptualized by Ogilvy and Mather, and is scheduled to go on air this week.

Ranbir's buddy-buddy baatein

As Ranbir Kapoor went into his second film from this week, a wonderful coincidence comes into light.

Over to Ranbir. "My father's co-star in his second film Raffoo Chakkar was the super-talented Paintal. Now in my second film (the untitled Yashraj Film to be directed by Siddharth Anand) Paintalji's son Hiten plays my friend. Isn't that quite a coincidence?"

Continues Ranbir, "That isn't all. My dad's first song was sung by Shailendra Singh. My first song in Saawariya was also sung by a Shailendra (Shail Hada)."

Live Chat: John Abraham on Nov 27 at 1330 hrs IST

He is hot, smart, sexy, charming, a biker, a footballer, and the list is endless. He started his career as a model through Gladrags and won the Manhunt. He made the girls ‘go gaga’ and the men green in his very first film, Jism. In the initial stages of his career itself, he played both the protagonist and an antagonist.

He gave other actors a run for their money. His film Dhoom broke records and for the first time the people went to see the film for villain. The style and caliber with which he carries himself, any girl would fall flat for him. He is all set to rock the screens again with his new look and his favourite sport, football, in Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal.