Desicritics Author: Nishit

Movie Review: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Nishit — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:44:54 EST

There is a sense of irony with Shahrukh Khan. You, as a director, can't let Shahrukh Khan be "Shahrukh Khan" if you want to extract performance from him. "Shahrukh Khan" can be all mushy. He can sulk for the whole movie if you want him to. He can flow through the role easily. and that's the Shahrukh people flood the theatres to watch, but that's the "Shahrukh" we are tired of watching, because practically there is no difference between Raj of DDLJ, Rahul of Dil to Pagal hai or Aman of Kal Ho Naa Ho. On the other hand, if you are adept at it, you can get Mohan Bhargava (Swades) or Amjad Ali Khan(Hey Ram) out of him, but with the exception of Chak De India that doesn't go too well with boxoffice. So Aditya Chopra, after 8 long years of deliberation, probably decided to have his cake and eat it too.

Surinder (Shahrukh Khan) is your typical first-bench-sitting, specs-wearing, dull topper, who is now working with Punjab Power. You can't help but smirk when he picks up the phone to greet "Punjab Power. Lighting up your lives" where as a matter of fact, he himself could do with some lighting up himself or how suitable the headline of the newspaper "Living in the fear" applies to him. He knows affection for sure, but does not know what love is as he has not even talked to any "ladies" in his life. He works hard to make life easy for his reluctant wife Taani, who has been through series of accidents in no time. You feel for Surinder or Suri's sincerity and honesty, even his little gestures of affection. He is the underdog you want to win, but that's clearly not what his wife desires.

Enter Raj. He is combination of all the previous Shahrukh Khans you have seen in your life what with "Raj... naam to suna hoga" and all those hand-swooshing gestures. He is someone who is meant to sweep-the-girl-off-her-feet, but you fail to understand whether he is himself or parody of himself. As the movie unfolds, I found myself asking the same question which the little annoying girl next to me kept asking to her parents through out the movie, "kya ho gaya?" and by the end of the movie, you, as audience, have lost the sense of the purpose, you no longer know what you actually want to happen with mess that has been created or rather you no longer care. As most of the characters in the movie do, you leave rest of the things to the Rab(God) to solve.

You fail to go along with the character of Shahrukh Khan. He begins with good intension of just making her happy, but it's incomprehensible as to how he expects Taani to love her husband when in fact Raj is doing all the work. Also the ease with which Suri fits into the character of Raj leaves you wondering what would be the befitting word? Schizophrenic or alter-ego or masochistic? Parodying themselves seems to be the flavour of the season for YRF and SRK. First Om Shanti Om, then Dostana, now this. Sure it's funny when Raj hums the tune of Dhoom or Taani does a John Abraham, but they are on the verge of overdoing it. Although to the credit of Aditya Chopra no hariyale khet, sarson da saag, makke di roti for this one. Thanks for that!!

Shahrukh Khan proves he is, for good or for bad, as the cliche goes, "director's actor". Otherwise how do you explain a perfectly restrained and lovable portrayal of Surinder and at the same time straight-from-previous-movies, annoying, repetitive portrayal of Raj in the same movie? Anushka Sharma almost fits the mould of a YRF heroine. Vinay Pathak as Bobby Khosla is decent as over-the-top-fashion sidekick of Suri.

If this is what Aditya Chopra came out of exile for after eight years, he better go back to it again.

Another Milestone For Tendulkar

Nishit — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:34:20 EDT

First things first: Laying out the foundation for the post. Sachin Tendulkar surpassed Brian Lara as the all-time top scorer of test cricket and surpassed 12,000 as well, along with his 50th Fifty although missing a well-deserved ton. Needless to say he holds this distinction in ODIs too. Sourav Ganguly surpassed 7000 runs mark along with a half-century on the way (and going) and India ended up with good score on the board at the end of the day.

This probably was destined many years before it actually happened. Everybody knew that some day or the other Tendulkar will end up with all-time top scorer in both longer and shorter form of the game. The only question was when! After two splendid innings Tendulkar-style down under, predicting game had begun.

Optimistics predicted it to be towards the end of the Australia series. Pragmatists predicted it in the series against Sri Lanka. Neither happened. After fabulous Australian series, just like rest of the middle order, Sachin struggled against Sri Lankan bowling attack and collected only 95 runs in 3 tests. Probably it was destined that he would achieve his record against his favourite opponent and he sure did!

His critics have alleged time and again about Tendulkar putting his records before team, and I can counter everyone of them, but that's not the point of the post (An older post about it here). Sachin's records, however personal, have been a cause of joy in this cricket crazy nation. His every record among cricket fan is revered and celebrated. Tendulkar is a hero people have looked upto for last 19 years and seldom he has disappointed them.

His record of staggering 673 runs in 2003 world cup (surpassing his own previous record) was important part of India's much touted appearance in final. His any sort of record hasn't pulled Indian team in negative direction, if not towards the victory. Sachin has never shown lack of commitment to the cause of the team, and records just have fallen into place. That's the reason his every century, every milestone, every record is cheered and savoured among fans. Have you seen the wildness, have you heard shouts when Sachin Tendulkar enters the ground? I have. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

It will be 19 years this November since Tendulkar first set a foot on the arena, but common man fascination is still the same. These 19 years have seen rises and falls of heroes, even to the extent of putting them ahead of Tendulkar, but this man has stood still. Kambli, Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni all have had their heydays, but it's Tendulkar that still towers two feet above them in public scrutiny. And that doesn't come for a player who plays for himself.

Another important aspect of today's game, may be eclipsed by heap of records, was partnership between Tendulkar and Ganguly. It was extremely joyous to see these two share a century partnership. This best opening ODI pair ever (with record 26 century partnerships and most runs by a pair) was a nightmare of opponents what with attacking approach combined with a repertoire of impossible shots. There was no taunting these two. Ask Henry Olonga what happens if you do do it. But sadly that was past and before this when was the last time these two shared a century partnership? Can't remember and that's probably why this is so important.

With Ganguly retiring at the end of this series, this might be the last big partnership these two greats shared, but those opponent-trouncing nostalgia will always remain with us.

Original Fiction: Harry Potter and the Closet of Fire

Nishit — Tue, 2 Sep 2008 08:33:54 EDT

This is a fan-fic dedicated to morons at Rediff and all over the world.

(Somewhere in the middle of the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince)

Harry was about to go to spiral downstairs then monster rose inside his heart and he halted.

"Yes Harry?" asked Dumbledore

"Professor Dumbledore .. err.. may I ask you something?"

"Go right ahead" said Dumbledore smilingly.

"Professor err.. did you ever err.. did you like any girl?"

To this, Dumbledore paused for a moment, then gave a sheepish smile. The Dumbledore rose from his seat and gestured his wand towards thin air and conjured letters out of thin air, which read "Albus Dumbledore" and soon they re-arranged themselves into "Male bods rule, dude"

Harry slipped into shock for a moment and forced a grin on his face and started his movement towards downstairs. He could not decide what exactly what he was feeling at that moment, but he was certain that he saw a nostalgic expression on Dumbledore's countenance.

Characters @ J K Rowling & Scholastic

The New Roger Federer

Nishit — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:24:50 EDT

Let me start with some facts. Federer has not won a single Grand Slam title this year, he may not even defend his US open title. Heck, Federer has not even won a single Masters series this year. He lost on his favourite turf, Wimbledon, to his arch-nemesis Rafael Nadal. His lead at the top of the ranking will be cut down to sub-300 by end of this week and definitely subsequently will be given to Nadal. He may not be year-end number 1.

Here is my answer: I DON'T CARE!!! Not that the Wimbledon loss did not hurt. Not that after almost 250 weeks Federer will have to give up his #1 ranking wouldn't wrench my heart. This was supposed to be the year where he could potentially have a golden slam (four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold, only achieved by Steffi Graf -- men or women), but it has been totally the reverse. A consensus has been reached by fans who have realized that the time has come to accept that their hero is a human. Stupid journalists are getting courageous enough to ask questions like "To some extent, do you agree with Justine Henin's decision to retire at the peak of her career?" only to see Federer red-eyed and replying "Do I agree with that? Not today. Ask me another day. Please don't kill me with questions like this."

In spite of all these points, I am still looking forward to the rest of the year. I will not even say how I have savoured being a Federer fan with not just winning but subtletly and perfection that took the tennis to a new level. I will stay in present. As Monx put it, now is the real time to be a Federer fan. I will no longer be a supporter of man-at-the-top but an underdog. An underdog, whose competition now will not only be with Rafael Nadal but also with the rest of the world. An underdog, whose every victory will not be taken for granted and an underdog, whose win will pump up the adrenaline rather than "yeah.. it was just another victory" For long Rafa fans have enjoyed his dark horse status and Federer fans have faced the questions "oh, so he lost? Is that end of Federer?"

No more my friends! NO MORE! All Rafa fans around me, beware. As wonderful a player as Rafa is, be prepared to face the taunts as he is the number one, while I sit back and see my hero challenging #1. Go Roger!

Sydney Test - The Most Disgraceful Moment in Test Cricket

Nishit — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 03:27:45 EST

Till date, many consider the moment in 1981, when Greg Chappell asked his bowler, his brother, Trevor Chappell to bowl underarm. New Zealand requiring six runs off the last ball to tie the match, which obviously couldn't be hit considering the underarm delivery as the most disgraceful moment in the history of One-day cricket. Today I am in front of the TV watching the most disgraceful test I've ever known. Umpiring, sportsman spirit all gone haywire.

Umpires are human and hence prone to mistakes. Please for the sake of the universe, please don't give me this excuse, at least for this test. The umpires have crossed all the limits. In the Australian first innings, Ricky Ponting clearly nicks with a big sound, verdict not out. Plumb in front of stumps, verdict not out. Let me not even talk about the hundred survival Symonds got, courtesy Benson and Bucknor, during his match saving innings of 162*. In the Indian first innings : Jaffer out on a no-ball and guess what - the umpire doesn't even know. The series of pathetic decisions continue. In the Indian second innings, final day of the test. India surely playing for a draw, which will be a big boost. Australia going for the kill, damn right they want the world record of 16 wins and for that they have decided to put aside the sportsman spirit. Dravid's catch is dropped at second/third slip off a no-ball, but no no-ball declared! Dravid defends a ball outside off stump, with his bat behind his pad and far far away from the ball, Gilchrist fervently appeals and the verdict? OUT!! Ganguly is playing the superb knock to save the test match and has just completed his half century. Suddenly the ball takes outside edge and flies to third slip, where the ball not once but TWICE touches the ground before Clarke completes the catch. and what does Brenson do? He asks Ricky Ponting, standing in second sleep. Ricky Ponting even without a blink of eye blatantly says "I think he is out" and the verdict? Umpire immediately raises the finger, without even looking at Saurav Ganguly who is standing there firm!

Now, coming to the vaporized sportsman spirit of Australian team. Symonds blatantly declares that he knew he was out when he was 30 during his epic innings of 162. When the ball passed way away from Dravid's bat and Gilchrist was standing close to the stumps, Gilchrist was the only person whom you can think as the one who won't appeal, if he knows it isn't out, but he appeals and Dravid is out. Ricky Ponting, who is lying blatantly as mentioned above, does it again. The ball bounces (off the pad), Ponting dives and takes the catch, takes a diving catch. His hand is ABOVE the ball when the ball TOUCHES the ground, so you can't be in doubt whether you have taken it clean or not, but he still appeals and fervently appeals?! Thank God that was off the pads otherwise who knows, the umpire might have given that out!!! Let me not once again recount all those illogical appeals from Australian team.

If India didn't deserve to win this match, they surely didn't deserve to lose this one either. This is not the loss of India, but the LOSS OF CRICKET. However good World champions Australia might be, I don't have any respect for the team for this win. Aussies, you DID NOT DESERVE THIS.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Saawariya

Nishit — Tue, 6 Nov 2007 01:58:07 EST

Eagerly awaited and hopefully looked upon time by Bollywood is approaching as Diwali nears. This year, Diwali is going to witness two mega-budget releases Saawariya and Om Shanti Om. As for, whole versus thing, I will reserve it for another post. For now, I am here to talk about Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his latest offering Saawariya.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali entered the Bollywood landscape silently, with not-so-successful Khamoshi, but he really hit the marquee with Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, which went on to become one of the most successful films in the year and put Bhansali at front of successful directors. Bhansali continued his success march with really-mega-budget Devdas, churning out enough money to justify the big budget, even resulting in the selection for India's official entry to best foreign-language film at Academy awards, only to be ousted too early just like most of Indian films. Strengthening Bhansali as one of looked upon figure of Bollywood, but surprising was yet to come. In 2005, Bhansali came up with "breakthrough cinema", "critically-acclaimed", "beautifully crafted" et al BLACK.

Let me try to put Saawariya into my own little perspective about Bhansali and his films in general. I won't dig too much past, just little something from recent past. Devdas and Black.

As everyone knows, Devdas was an adaption of a novel, which was already adopted twice before and in fans' words, immortalized by K. L. Saigal and Dilip Kumar respectively. Bhansali roped in Shahrukh Khan, baap of all of them, at least as far as melodrama is concerned. Gargantuan sets, full of colours, two beautiful leading ladies, graceful choreography and dependable Shahrukh Khan made this movie a huge hit. Devdas, as a novel and even as a movie is classic example of all the drama/melodrama that can be incorporated. Bhansali did just that, so although people might have described it as gaudy or anything, one needs to understand that it needed to be gaudy. So far so good.

Then came BLACK. Bhansali set his eyes on critics and junta both this time around and decided to remake Academy-award winner The Miracle Worker. A story of deaf and blind girl and her teacher inspired from Hellen Keller. He decided to go for black and white instead of colour, in keeping with the name of the film. Whatever came out was the darling of critics and not to mention a huge hit. He got all the praise for venturing where no Hindi movie director had gone, lifetime role of Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee etc. etc.

Now here is where my problem starts. Black was a good watch alright, but it went a little too far. Let me try to put it into words. Raja Sen, one of the prominent hate-figures on rediff message boards and among my favourite movie reviewers, in his article Why Paheli is better choice than Black for Oscars raised a few good points. I may not agree with all good things he said about Paheli, but for Black. sure!! (No wonder people hate him like that. I mean "how can he bash ah-so-great, movie of the century, Black like this..."). Greatbong, in his review rightly described the movie as A technically polished weepy is all that I can call it.

Baradwaj Rangan properly describes Sanjay Leela Bhansali as unapologetically melodramatic. That works for Devdas, but not quite for Black, mate.

Coming to Saawariya, as we know, Saawariya is adaptation of Fryodor Dostoevsky's short story White Nights. Russian authors are known for their dark, depressing love stories about unrequited love, with most of the stories ending in agony, nervousness and depression. As a screenplay, the story is good but why do I have this serious apprehension that all of that is going to get lost between sets, songs and Ranbir's bottom? (Rediff insanity at its peak. What do you mean Should INDIA see Ranbir's bottom????. Oh, let's keep the nuclear deal aside for sometime, while INDIA discusses the utmost national security issue such as this). Or is it only me that has this feeling that Bhansali will be as unsuccessful in doing the justice to the subject as he was in Black. Well, only time can tell that but as of now let's just say that I am apprehensive about Saawariya and would rather wait-and-watch.

European League Football Round-up: Summer 2007

Nishit — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:20:43 EDT

The month of June has arrived and this marks the end of major European football leagues. Here is the round-up of major leagues.

English Premier League : Roman Abramovich's Chelsea, after having catered some of the world's best and expensive players, was obviously eager to make a hat-trick, but this time around Sir Alex Ferguson's boys worked hard to make sure that doesn't happen and maintained the title lead from the start and won their 9th title when Chelsea failed to win against Arsenal and managed only a draw. After coming out of the world cup as most hated figure, Christiano Ronaldo was back to his class, this time supported by the likes of Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs and took home bunch of awards including PFA player's player of the year, PFA young player of the year, PFA fans' player of the year and Barclays player of the season.

FA Cup : The FA Cup final turned out to be an all-English affair between English premiership leaders Machester United and Chelsea. Owing to Rooney double Manchester United crushed Watford by 4-1 in semifinals, while death minute goal (109') by Michael Ballack earned Chelsea a place in the final. The final turned out to be a sluggish affair (pretty much like ManU vs Chelsea match at Stamford bridge, because the championship was already decided before the match started). Players on both side looked tired and match lacked energy. The match remained goalless for the most of time, but like many occasions, Didier Drogba came to Chelsea's rescue when only 4 minutes were remaining in the extra time and match looked certain to go into penalty shootouts and FA cup went to Chelsea.

UEFA Champions League: While FA Cup was all-English, one of the most coveted cups of Europe, the final line-up of the UEFA Champions League, reminded fans of the historic final of UEFA 2005 when Liverpool after trailing by 0-3 till 62nd minute, owing to some spectacular display led by Steven Gerrard himself, equalled to 3-3 in normal time and winning the title in penalty shootouts. Liverpool after training by 0-1 in away match equalled at 1-0 and due to spectacular display by Liverpool goalkeeper José Manuel Reina ensured 4-1 victory in penalty shootout for the reds. In second semifinal after having lead by 3-2 at home, ManU couldn't survive AC Milan's charged performance and sunk to 3-0 defeat. In the final at Olympic Stadium, Athens, Man of the match, Filippo Inzaghi scored twice as AC Milan took charge of the game, Kuyt scored in 89th minute for Liverpool, but it was already too late. and AC Milan took home their 7th UEFA champions' league title.

Spanish League (La Liga) : Unlike its English counterpart, there was no clear leader among the top teams. Real Madrid, Barca, Sevilla all had the lead at some point of time the other. Spanish league had as dramatic finish as it could have been. In the end, it was Real Madrid who had last laugh. Although as many points as Barca, Real won on head-to-head record (3-3 and 2-0 in their encounters). David Beckham in the last few crucial games silenced his critics by some phenomenal game and proved why he is one of the most expensive players of the game. It was winning farewell for Beckham in his last game with real before moving to LA Galaxy. It was their 30th La Liga title

AFI: 100 years -100 movies

Nishit — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:12:39 EDT

Celebrating 100 years of movies, the American Film Institute (AFI) came up with the AFI 100 years series. It conducted a poll from 1500 leading artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, cinematographers) in the film industry and came out with the top 100 movies of all-time.

The list is considered by many to be "THE" list because it is the result of a survey conducted among the actual leaders involved with the art, unlike IMDb's or any other website's top list, where even you or I can make or break a movie. The criteria for judging the movies were:

American film: English language, with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States.
Critical Recognition: Formal commendation in print, television, and digital media.
Major Award Winner: Recognition from competitive events including awards from peer groups, critics, guilds and major film festivals.
Popularity Over Time: This includes success at the box office, television and cable airings, and DVD/VHS sales and rentals.
Historical Significance: A film's mark on the history of the moving image through visionary narrative devices, technical innovation or other groundbreaking achievements.
Cultural Impact: A film's mark on American society in matters of style and substance.

It also had its own share of controversies too: just like the Academy awards, individual vote or voting system was not made public and only the final result was shown. Orson Welles' Citizen Kane was judged best movie of all-time followed by Casablanca and The Godfather.

Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia completed the top-five. Here is the full list. The list was unveiled in 1998. In subsequent years, AFI continued the 100 years series and released 100 stars, 100 heroes and villians, 100 movie quotes and so on.

Now AFI, as a step further, is going to release the 10th anniversary edition of top movies. New movies will be added, new ballots will be cast and we will have the updated list. From the ballot of 400 movies, which includes 44 movies from last 10 years, 100 movies will be chosen. The ballot obviously includes all earlier 100 movies. The new list will be unveiled on CBS as a three-hour televesion event on June 20th, 2007. The movies which might make into the new list, IMHO, are:

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Matrix (1999)
Requirem for a Dream (2000)
Memento (2000)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)

What do you say? Do leave your opinion in the comments and keep watching the space for the update.

India Offered Formula-1 in 2009

Nishit — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:16:10 EDT

INDIAN GRAND PRIX 2009. If this line doesn't send chills down through your spine, probably you don't understand how huge this news is. Suresh Kalmadi, in rarest display of wisdom, announced that India will be hosting F1 race, as soon as 2009, at Delhi. Indian Olympics Association will be taking all the responsibilities for the same.

Since last few years there has been growing interest in Formula-1 in India. Majority of people became aware of the terms like Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, when Narain Karthikeyan debuted in Formula-1 in 2005 with Jordan team and became first Indian driver to do so. As of now, fan-following of India has been dedicated to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, but India has definitely one of the prime market for Formula-1 in recent times.

"It is not vital to Formula One to be in the United States. There are bigger markets for us to be in other parts of the world. We could be in India soon instead of the United States", said F-1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. There had been various talks of Hyderabad hosting Formula-1, until Chandrababu Naidu, who initiated the talks, was thrown out of the power.

FOA (Formula One Association) has laid out lots of terms and conditions, but Kalmadi has promised to satisfy them all before September 20, 2007. FOA has lots of Infrastructure requirements pertaining to travel, accomodation of teams and supporting crews. eg., a city hosting F-1 needs to have 5000 five star hotel rooms for total crew including all teams and many more. India is already lacking behind in the schedule of 2010 commonwealth games, also being held at Delhi. Added responsibility of F-1 will surely add up lots of responsibilities, but we can only hope that Suresh Kalmadi lives upto his word, which doesn't go too well with his past records.

They need huge land to build the track around Delhi, which I am sure will take up loads of time in bureaucracy and add to it stadium building and other overhead. Tough times. I hope he does live upto it and this dream turns into a reality. If Delhi is indeed hosting 2009 Grand Prix, you bet I am there. Are you game?

Tennis: The 2007 Clay Season Round-Up

Nishit — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:17:45 EDT

As the French Open ended on June 10, 2007, clay season for this year comes to an end. No doubts whatsoever, as to who emerged as the real champion of the clay after the three-month long clay season. 'King of Clay' Rafael Nadal, hands down! On the other hand, The mighty Federer saw lots of turbulance in the season. As low as beaten by a qualifier to as high as defeating clay king on his own turf.

One of the defining decision regarding future of clay season in men's tennis came from ATP. ATP has decided to take away masters series title from Monte-Carlo masters and Hamburg masters in the name of reducing masters series titles from nine to eight, much to the displeasure of players including Roger Federer. From 2009, although these series will be played, they won't be elite masters series and instead one masters series will be awarded to China and year-ending masters cup, currently held in Shanghai, will be moved to Europe. Sad news for clay season indeed!!! Also this year's masters series final were decided to be 3-setter than usual 5-setters. However, here is the round of 2007 season.

Monte-Carlo Masters (April 16-22, 2007) : This year's Monte-Carlo masters final was repeat of the last year's. A battle fans eagerly anticipate the moment they two enter the tournament. Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal. Nadal won the tournament with no sweat. 6-4 6-4.

Rome Masters (May 7-13, 2007) : Rome Masters is what Federer's fans might describe as his prowess on clay, after last year's marathon final between Federer and Nadal. A battle that lasted historic 5 hours!!! Rafael Nadal won in 5th set tiebreak, even after the fact that Federer was leading the tie-break, but that was not to be this year. In what might be described as biggest slump of Roger Federer's career, he lost to a qualifier Filippo Volandri in 3rd round and Nadal easily won the title defeating Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez by 6-2 6-2.

Hamburg Masters (May 14-20, 2007) : The moment finally came. What had been mirage till now became reality. Federer finally defeated Nadal on the clay surface!!!! Being the clay surface and slump that Federer had been going through, probably not even fans touted him for the title contender, but he did it. Roger Federer won the Hamburg masters, coming from a set down, by defeating Rafael Nadal 2-6 6-2 6-0, ending the latter's unbeaten streak of 81 on clay surface and gathering confidence for the upcoming clay fiesta, French Open.

French Open (May 27-June 10, 2007) : Not only the fans, but people from all-over the world were now looking forward to this tournament. After Hamburg masters people could believe that Rafael Nadal is not unsurmountable on clay, but it's Rafael Nadal we are talking about. He proved them all wrong. He successfully defended his French Open title and made a hat-trick at Roland Garros, by defeating Roger Federer in the finals, 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4, dropping only single set in the whole tournament. Vamos Rafa!!! On the women's title front, Justine Henin prevailed.