"...Either you are crazy or great!..."

"...Either you are crazy or great!..."

"If I become successful, then I'm great or else I'm crazy..." says Shreyas Talpade, while playing Pravin Tambe, in the movie Kaun Pravin Tambe. 

An unreal yet real story about a person who was stubborn about making it to a Ranji team, which he did, eventually (and I understood the actual meaning of the word "eventually" after watching the movie yesterday evening.) While some players achieve the goal of making it to Ranji in their teens, others in their 20s, yet others in their 30s, this bloke achieved it in his 40s, after making an IPL debut at the age of 41 years & 212 days, after a gritty chase. The chase to catch that ever elusive dream of playing a Ranji Trophy game.

While we've often heard and read about how famous entrepreneurs have cracked it big time in their 50s, 60s or even 70s, to make a debut on the international sports scene (though the IPL is not the same as an ODI or Test played internationally, it is nearly there) at the age of 41 𝗶𝘀 impossible. Now, the "𝗶𝘀" in the prior statement has been converted to a "𝘄𝗮𝘀" -  that's the power of grit and determination as shown brilliantly in this movie. 

Also, sometimes, an ordinary dal becomes brilliant when you introduce a tadka (tempering) into the mix. A special mention for one of my favorite actors, Ashish Vidyarthi, who played the role of coach Vidya Paradkar. There are very few actors today who only need a few minutes of screen time in an entire movie to make a huge impact and Ashish is that brilliant tadka in this movie. It was a joy to witness your craft, Ashish. The intricate home scenes reminded me of the fact that some of the greatest people who become coaches/mentors/teachers/trainers are intrinsically driven to derive utmost joy from their subjects' success while having no affinity for material wealth. 

Shreyas Talpade reminded me of another of his great role when he played a cricketer in Iqbal. Watch this movie if you still haven't. Its streaming on Disney+ Hotstar and you won't regret spending your time watching it.

To end this post with where it started, I guess you gotta be crazy, if you want to have a shot at being great, or atleast land up somewhere in-between crazy and great knowing that you gave it your best shot...it is better to land somewhere in crazy land than get lost in oblivion space...