THE UNDERTAKER

                                                                         

Hrithik loves challenges: 'Agneepath' director

 Debutant director Karan Malhotra says actor Hrithik Roshan, who is taking on the role of Amitabh Bachchan in 'Agneepath' remake, constantly looked for new challenges during the making of the movie.

When Hrithik stepped into 'Agneepath', he made it clear that he will not emulate Bachchan's portrayal of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan and instead approach the character in his own way. Malhotra, who has taken the task of recreating the popular movie with a new star cast, says he shared a collaborative relationship with Hrithik during filming.

"He (Hrithik) is a treat for every director. He loves to discuss, debate and most importantly be shocked. He thrives on such challenges. Once he is on, he gives full support to a film without any interference. He doesn't work just for his own character, he works for the whole film," Malhotra told PTI.

Sanjay Dutt is playing the nemesis in the movie and going by the reaction to his first look, it seems that the antagonist may overshadow the hero this time but Malhotra says it was not intentional.

"He is not Dutt in the film, he is the character Kaancha. I don't think it was intentional that villain would look big and the hero would be small," Malhotra said. "Both Sanjay and Hrithik are big and powerful in their own way. I have this belief that bigger the villain, more powerful the fight because at the end of it all, he has to succumb to the hero. Dutt is just the perfect villain for any hero to conquer and in 'Agneepath' it would be no different."

Also starring Priyanka Chopra and Rishi Kapoor, the film is slated to hit the screens on January 26.

Sydney awaits Sachin's historic 100th ton

Having once again come up short in his attempt to notch up his milestone 100th hundred in the first Test against Australia in Melbourne, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar will be now setting his sights on the Sydney Cricket Ground, where he has plundered runs on his previous four tours starting from the 1991-92 visit.

However, Tendulkar looked in sublime touch in the first of four Tests with scores of 73 and 32 before falling to pacer, Peter Siddle on both occasions.

Statistically, Tendulkar averages more in Australia (58.53) than at home (53.30) against the same opponents. Six of Tendulkar's 11 hundreds against Australia have come away from home. He is followed by Laxman, who has scored four centuries in Australia.

But the significance of his record cannot be measured in numbers alone. If Tendulkar's first century (148 in Sydney) on his maiden Australian tour in 1991 showed a glimpse of what the world could expect from that 18-year-old wonder kid, his last one at the same venue (241 not out) was a testament to his longevity in the game.

In fact, Tendulkar's love affair with the SCG, which is also called Sachin Cricket Ground by many of his followers, is well known. He has only been dismissed three times in seven innings at the ground and has a staggering average of 221.33

Tendulkar has termed the SCG as his "favourite ground" outside India and hoped to continue his love affair with the stadium in the second cricket Test against the home side.

"The SCG has obviously been my favourite ground away from India," Tendulkar said. "It's a terrific ground, a special place. I love the atmosphere. It's wonderful. There are these certain grounds where you walk out there feeling you're going to do well and the SCG is one of those grounds where I feel comfortable," he was quoted as saying recently.

Of the 59 venues where Tendulkar has played Test cricket in his illustrious 22-year-old career, the batting ace has only averaged better at Dhaka and Mirpur in Bangladesh.

SCG has always had a special place in Tendulkar's career but it remains to be seen whether he can achieve the elusive 100th international century at his favourite overseas ground, which probably would be his last Test in Sydney.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is also confident that his ex-teammate will come back strongly against the Aussies in the second Test.

"Tendulkar has always been very highly rated in this part of the world - one can say everywhere - but I just get a feeling that when one comes to this country, the excitement with him has been just that more every time and, to be honest, his batting just goes one notch higher on the hard, bouncy pitches," he said.

Ganguly said as Tendulkar gets ready to play on his favourite ground, the SCG, next week all fans will have their fingers crossed when he walks out to bat.

Google doodles a fresh beginning on New Year's Day

 After having a party on December 31 2011, the New Year's Day doodle on the Google home page signals a fresh beginning in the year 2012.

The letters on the Google logo celebrated the passing of 2011 and welcomed 2012 with music, dance, baloons and a lot of colour on Saturday. After a feverish night of partying, they seem to have already embarked upon fulfilling their resolutions for the New Year on Sunday.

The 'G' is listening to music and saying "hello" to the world in different languages, the '0s' are getting set for a fitter year with aerobics and yoga, 'G' has taken to the guitar, 'L' is now into literature and 'E' is the one who is cleaning up after the merrymaking.

Google posted 260 doodles in 2011. This figure is only nominally higher than the 258 doodles that Google put up on its home page in 2010. Some of the doodles were limited to Google's country specific home pages while others appeared globally.

Google recently announced the revamp of its Doodle site (www.google.com/doodles) which houses all Google doodles since the very first back in 1998.

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