Sachin the great.

Last night I watched the IPL final and what an exciting match it was. I don’t think we could have asked for a better finale to a most entertaining tournament. Rajasthan after beginning as the least likely to win at the start of the tournament went on to win the cup. My congratulations to the Rajasthan team and supporters. Chennai, hard luck but very well fought. Mumbai Indians is the team I’m supporting for obvious reasons, and I was disappointed that we weren’t in the finals, but next time. In fact I think all teams gave it their best but there can only be one winner, and jo jeeta wohi sikander. My guess is that in a very short time we should have the best side on an international level, what with all the young talent being thrown up.

The match last night was certainly exciting but what made it a unique experience for me was that I had Sachin next to me. You will find this hard to believe but Sachin was able to predict every ball before it was bowled. “He is going to bowl a bouncer next”,
“This one is going to be a slower one”, “Full tilt outside the off stump”, “Next one will be a yorker”, “Short of length”. It was uncanny. HE GOT IT RIGHT EACH TIME!!! No wonder its so difficult to bowl to him. He has an amazing instinct. And he told me his logic for each prediction which I wont share with you as I don’t want to reveal how his mind works. But all of us were dumbfounded with his instinct and his acumen. So at the end of it I told him next time we watch a film together I’m going to tell him whats going to happen next!

My apologies for disappearing for a bit. My friend Paul Blackthorn was visiting Bombay and I spent the week with him reliving Lagaan. In fact we had a bit of a reunion for him and it was really great to meet everyone.

And my apologies for the delay in the DVD release of TZP. The final work is almost over. Any day now. But I assure you I have tried my very best to make the wait worth it. Very soon I will tell y’all the exact release date, which is any day now.

Yes Praveer, Mansoor is indeed a product of IIT Bombay, Cornell, and MIT, however I whip him at chess. So watch out.

Nat why would PF, Comfortably Numb remind you of us?

I see that some of you have remembered my son Junaid’s birthday. Thanks so much for your wishes. We just returned from a dinner to celebrate it. He is 15 already! How time
passes.

Incidentally, tomorrow I resume work on the action sequences of Ghajini. I think my hamstring has recovered, but I''''''''ll get to know tomorrpw. Wish me luck.

Love.