Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan Biography
Shahrukh Khan is the most acclaimed actor of India who works in Bollywood films. Along with being an actor he also has his own production company and sometimes also works as a TV host. ‘King Khan‘, ‘SRK‘, ‘SRKhan‘, ‘Badshah of Bollywood‘, ‘King of Romance‘, these are some of the nicknames given to Shahrukh Khan. His smile and dimples are his trademark and he has a height of 5.8″ (1.73m). Today Shahrukh stands among the highest respected and paid actors in Bollywood. His wife’s name is Gauri and he has one son and a daughter named Aryan and Suhana.

Early Life

Shahrukh Khan was born in New Delhi, on 2nd November in the year 1965 to Muslim parents having Pathani descent. His father’s name was Taj Mohammad Khan, who originally was from Peshawar of British India and was an Indian freedom fighter. He had come to New Delhi, before India’s partition from Peshawar’s Qissa Khawani Bazaar. He was a lawyer by profession and died in the year 1982 due to cancer. Shahrukh’s mother, Lateef Fatima was Major General Shah Nawaz Khan’s adopted daughter. Major General Shah Nawaz had served as a general in Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army. Fatima Begum was a first class magistrate and a social worker who died in the year 1991, due to complications from diabetes. Shahrukh also has an elder sister called Shehnaz.
Shahrukh did his schooling from New Delhi’s St. Colombia High School. Even in his school, he was quite accomplished in academics, drama and sports. He won the annual school award called the ‘Sword of Honor’ which was given to the student, best representing the school’s spirit. After completing school, he attended the Hansraj College in New Delhi from the year 1985 to 1988, from where he graduated with Economic Honors. Later he attended the Jamia Millia Islamia and pursued a Mass Communications Master degree. But he opted out from it later, to make a career in Bollywood.
After his parent’s death, Shahrukh shifted to Mumbai in1991. In this year he also marriedGauri Chibber, before the release of any of his films. He married Gauri who by faith is a Hindu on 25th October 1991, in a traditional Hindu ceremony.

Film Career

Shahrukh learnt acting from the Theatre Action Group (TAG) in Delhi, under Berry John who is a celebrated Theater Director. He made his debut in acting in the year 1988 by appearing in a TV series called ‘Fauji’ where he played Commando Abhimanyu Rai’s role. After this, he also appeared in a few other TV serials, notably Aziz Mirza’s 1989 serial named ‘Circus’ which was based on circus life of the performers. He also did a small role in 1989 in the English language film made for television called ‘In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones’, written by Arundhati Roy.
In 1991, after moving to Mumbai from New Delhi, Shahrukh made his debut in Bollywood through the movie ‘Deewana’. This movie was a box office hit and worked as his career’s launchpad in Bollywood. His second Bollywood movie, ‘Maaya Memsaab’ created some controversy due to his appearance in an ‘explicit’ movie scene. In 1993, his film ‘Baazigar’, also became a major hit. In 1995, Shahrukh starred in Aditya Chopra’s ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’, which became a great commercial and critical success. This movie by 2007, entered its twelfth year in theaters of Mumbai and became one of the biggest blockbusters by grossing more than 12 billion rupees. Later, in 1990s, he also starred in many successful movies which included Yash Chopra’s ‘Dil to Pagal Hai’, Subhash Ghai’s Pardes, and in 1998 Karan Johar’s debut ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. He was also praised for his performance in the movie, ‘Dil Se’ which was an overseas commercial success.
In 2000 Shahrukh’s success continued and he again got critical acclaim for Aditya Chopra’s film ‘Mohabbatein’. In this year, he set up along with actress Juhi Chawla his own production house called ‘Dreamz Unlimited’. Later he collaborated with Karan Johar in the movie ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ which became that year’s 2nd biggest hit. In 2002, he starred in the movie ‘Devdas’ which was a remake of the well known novel of the same name. This became one of the biggest hit film of that year. The other box office hits that followed are the film, ‘Hum Tumhare Hai Sanam’, Yash Chopra’s ‘Veer Zaara’, Karan Johar’s, ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna’, the 2006 remake of ‘Don’. His 2007 movie, ‘Chak de India’, which was about the Indian national women’s hockey team won multiple awards. Also in the same year, his movie ‘Om Shanti Om’, directed by Farah Khan became a major hit both in India and the overseas. Shahrukh also lent his voice to the character of Mr. Lajawaab (Mr. Incredible), in the Hindi version of the Disney animated movie, ‘The Incredible’.
In 2004, Shahrukh launched ‘Red Chilies Entertainment’, his other production company. He starred and produced the films, ‘Main Hoo Na’ and ‘Om Shanti Om’ which were great box office hits. In the year 2008, his company became the owner of the ‘Kolkata Knight Riders’ of the IPL cricket League backed by the BCCI.
Shahrukh also did some television shows in recent years. In 2007, he hosted ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, a popular game show, which was the Indian version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. In 2008, he hosted another game show called, ‘Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain’

Awards

Shahrukh Khan’s extreme talent and popularity has won him many awards. Some of the notable among them are.
  1. The Filmfare Best Male Debut Award in 1992 for the film ‘Deewana’.
  2. The Filmfare Best Actor Award for the film ‘Baazigar’ in the year 1993.
  3. The Filmfare Best Actor Award in 1995 for, ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’.
  4. The Filmfare Best Actor Award in 1997 for ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’.
  5. Critics Award for Best Performance in 2000 for the movie, ‘Mohabbatein’.
  6. Filmfare Best Actor Award in 2004 for ‘Swades’.
  7. Filmfare Award for the best actor for the film ‘Chak De India’, in 2007.
Shah Rukh Khan
Shah Rukh Khan
Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Umar Gul

Umar Gul Biography
Umar Gul(born 15 October 1984 in Peshawar) is a Pakistani cricketer who has played ten Test matches and 25 One Day Internationals for Pakistan as a specialist fast bowler. However, injury has prevented him from a long international career, as he was out of cricket for an entire season after his international debut. Gul was first called up for the team in April 2003, playing four one-day matches at the Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup against Zimbabwe, Kenya and Sri Lanka, where he took four wickets, and he was in and out of the one-day team after that tournament. However, he played the whole of the 2003�04 home series against Bangladesh, making his Test debut and taking 15 wickets in the three Tests, and took the second-most wickets of any Pakistani bowler in the series, behind Shabbir Ahmed with 17. However, Shoaib Akhtar, who took 13 in third place, only played two of the Tests. Gul was retained for the ODIs against Bangladesh, taking a List A best five for 17 in nine overs in the third match, and ended with 11 wickets in the 5�0 series win. However, he could still not command a regular spot, playing three of Pakistan's nine next ODIs before finally getting dropped after one for 36 against New Zealand. He played two Tests after that, however, taking four wickets in a drawn Test against New Zealand before coming in as replacement for Shabbir Ahmed in the second Test of the three-Test series against India. After coming on as first-change bowler, Gul dismissed Virender Sehwag with his second over, and then bowled unchanged for 12 overs either side of lunch to take five Indian top order wickets - including Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, who both had Test batting averages above 50, as did Sehwag. Gul finished with five for 31 in his spell, earning him commendation from Cricinfo journalist Dileep Premachandran, who praised his \"control of line and length\", and he was also named Man of the Match despite conceding runs at five an over in the second innings in a nine-wicket win. However, Gul was then ruled out of the third Test with a back injury which kept him out of cricket for an entire year. He returned to play two games at the 2004�05 Twenty20 Cup, and played some matches for Pakistan A and a Pakistan XI in warm-up games before the Test matches against England the following season, but he was not selected for the matches and has instead played three matches with Peshawar at the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Gul was selected in Pakistan squad for the 2006 tour of England as a replacement to the injured Shoaib Akhtar. Gul had signed a one year contract with Gloucestershire to play in 2007, but the Pakistan Cricket Board failed to give them their permission. Gul appeared in all three of Pakistan's group matches in the 2007 World Cup taking four wickets with an economy rate of 3.13, only Shane Bond of those to deliver 100 balls was more economical. He also appeared in all of Pakistan's matches at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 taking 3/15 of 4 overs in the semi-final victory over New Zealand. He took three wickets in the final to finish as the tournament's leading wicket-taker. In February 2008, Gul signed with the Indian Premier League and was drafted by Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for US $150,000. He played in six matches, taking 12 wickets at an average of 15.33, including a player of the match award in Kolkata's final game in which Gul took 4-23 and scored 24 runs from 11 balls. In December 2008 Gul signed with the Western Warriors to compete in the Australian domestic 2008-09 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash tournament. He performed very well in his debut match for the Warriors, taking 4 wickets for 15 runs in a losing side.
Umar Gul

Friday, 21 October 2011

Shahid Afridi Wicket Overs vs Sussex

Shahid Afridi makes 32 runs from 1 over vs Sri Lanka

SHAHID AFRID

SHAHID AFRIDI BIOGRAPHY
Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (born 1 March 1980 in Khyber Agency), popularly known as Shahid Afridi is a Pakistani cricketer currently playing for the Pakistani national team. He made his ODI debut on 2 October 1996 against Kenya in Nairobi and his Test debut on 22 October 1998 against Australia at Karachi. He is known for his aggressive batting style, and currently holds the highest career strike rate in the history of international cricket. In a recent survey, Afridi was named as the most popular cricketer in Pakistan. His general style of batting is very aggressive and attack oriented and has earned him the nickname \"Boom Boom Afridi\" for his fastest One Day International century just in 37 balls. As of 22 May 2007, he has an ODI strike rate of 109.38 runs per 100 balls, the highest in the game's history. This attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike rate of 86.13 in Tests. He has an approach to batting that can change the tempo of a game and inspire the mood of an audience, as shown when a mass exodus of spectators occurred in Pakistan in late 2005 following his dismissal from the crease. He hits many sixes long and high, favoring straight down the ground or over midwicket. A trademark shot is a crossbatted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump. This explosive style has led to some memorable shots, most notably the first ever 12 in power cricket in 2002, where Afridi successfully hit the roof. However, his aggressive style increases his risk of getting out and he is one of the most inconsistent batsmen in cricket. This is reflected by the fact that he is the only player to score more than 5000 ODI runs at an average under 25. Bowling-wise, his stock ball is the leg break, but his armory also includes the conventional off break and a 'quicker one' which he can deliver at nearly 80 mph in the style of a medium-pacer. He bowls at a high speed for a spinner, resulting in lesser turn, and relying more on variations in speed. He occasionally sends down a bouncer to a batsmen, which is very rare for a spin bowler.
SHAHID AFRIDI
SHAHID AFRIDI
SHAHID AFRIDI
SHAHID AFRIDI
SHAHID AFRIDI
SHAHID AFRIDI
SHAHID AFRIDI
SHAHID AFRIDI