Hardik Rajgor

S igh. It’s been a rough few months. My good friend, Arnab Goswami who watched Padmavati (or Padmavat, even I can’t keep track of the names anymore) even before the censor board, played a clip on his channel. In it, a man announced a bounty of  ₹ 1 crore for anyone who burnt Deepika alive. Then the next guy came in and announced  ₹ 5 crore for anyone who beheaded me and Deepika. The next guy upped the bid to  ₹ 10 crore. It was like watching ISIS have an IPL auction. I was shocked beyond belief. Is that all my life is worth?! Jesus fucking Christ, the economy has indeed dipped over the past few quarters, but this is low! I still had it better than poor Shahid. After being ignored by the audience and award shows for his brilliant performances,  Shahid Kapoor  is now also being ignored by fringe groups issuing death threats. Nothing this man does is ever going to be enough, is it? The producers have been quite supportive of me in the media but I can sense ...

C hildhood is just like an opinion: Everyone has had one and everyone thinks theirs is the best. Coloured by the vintage filter of nostalgia, viewed through the shattered kaleidoscope of adulthood, our childhood sticks deep, like religion. Look no further than when your parents start a sentence with, “When I was your age…” Grab a cup of coffee, because it is going to be a lecture in how this generation has lost the plot, and you’ll need the caffeine to stay up. “Ye koi gaane hai? Gaane to Kishore Kumar aur Mohammed Rafi ke hote the. What is all this crap that you guys listen to, Honey Singh and  Badshah ? ‘Blue hai paani paani paani.’ What nonsense is this?” This is how every  road trip  with my family begins. The person sitting next to the driver, playing the role of the car DJ faces more pressure than  Virat Kohli  in a big run chase, as he tries to acutely balance the melodies of the ’60s with the beats from 2017. Movies are another bone of contention a...

I n 2003, the era before T-20, watching a game of cricket for eight hours straight wasn’t considered “boring”. The Indian team at the time was a batting masterclass. Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvraj – you name it. But as good as the batting was, the bowling and fielding was equally lacklustre. You never knew what score would be enough. Our bowling unit never inspired much confidence. Whether it was 300 or 350, it could make any score look mediocre. At age 10, this lacklustre bowling was my single biggest worry. (Yes, I’m that uncool.) The England-India game at Durban was a must-win World Cup game and we put on an average 250 on the board. I had as much faith on the Indian bowling line-up as I had in Santa Claus showing up for Christmas. England lost a couple of quick wickets but a partnership was beginning to take shape. In came Ashish Nehra, moving the ball both ways at a serious pace and he ran through the English middle order in a breath-taking spell of  6-23 . It ...