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Special Feature
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B&E
75 ARCHITECTS OF THE INDIAN CENTURY
B&E
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 ROHIT SHARMA
Another lil’ master?!
It was one of those nail-biting situations again. The finals of the T20 series, India vs Pakistan. Limited overs, young blood and arch rivals... it was India’s chance to wash away the World Cup 2007 debacle. And indeed, they did! Winning the Twenty20 World Cup 2007 answered many questions, one of them being the selection of young players in the team. And among those young stars was Rohit Sharma whose splendid performance in the series (remember that swashbuckling knock of 50 on a tricky Durban wicket) and especially the unbeaten 30-run knock against Pakistan played a pivotal role in India’s historical win.
“I grew up during a time when India saw Sachin Tendulkar as the biggest icon in cricket. Everyone idolised him and many players still look up to him. And being from the same place as him, it had a huge impact on me,” recalled Rohit when asked for his inspiration for choosing a profession which is almost considered a religion in India... and his inspiration was none other than the God of this very religion. “Every time I watched Sachin play, I got inspired to try harder to find a place in the Indian cricket team,” mused Rohit. If we trace some big names in the world who have created historical records, one would not come across many who’ve had a glorious beginning. And Rohit is another name in the league. With a sluggish start in the early years of domestic cricket, Rohit did not give reasons enough to predict his upcoming accomplishments. But his performance in the U-19 World Cup (where he was one of the top scorers) grabbed the attention of many, which then lead to his selection in the Twenty20 World Cup. And after the triumph in T20, there has been no looking back. Rohit also turned out to be a reliable pick in the CB series in Australia, where he made a significant contribution, especially with his match-winning score of 66 in partnership with Sachin Tendulkar in the first final. And with this, he has also proved to be amongst the most sought after players in the Indian Premier League.
With a cool and composed temperament and cavalier batting technique, this exciting young right-hand middle order batsman has just the desired combination to make him an able replacement for ‘the big three’. Indeed, for reasons obvious, Rohit Sharma, today, is being pegged as one of those whose footing on the pitch is going to be long and strong.
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 VISHAL DADLANI
MELODY OF MATURITY
When Vishal Dadlani started as a vocalist of an electronic band with friends from all over Mumbai, he could have never imagined the dizzying heights of fame that he would be catapulted to and the accolades that would soon come his way. Pentagram was never meant for the masses, thanks to its metal undertones and hair-raising lyrics. But it enjoyed its ardent fan-following nonetheless. But that was nearly a decade ago. Vishal teamed up with Shekhar Ravjiani to form the duo of Vishal-Shekhar and after the colossal success of the movie Jhankaar Beats, they became hot property in the industry.
The critics held back from going full out in their appreciation of the new-found talent. Most sceptics did not take Vishal-Shekhar seriously and believed them to become a likely addition to Bollywood’s list of one-hit-wonders. But the duo followed their lucky streak with movies like Salaam Namaste, Dus and Bluffmaster, and as Saif Ali Khan and Ahishek Bachchan grooved to their beats on-screen, the Indian music lovers lapped up their albums.
In retrospect, Vishal has come a million miles from where he had started; both in terms of the genre of music he belts out and the audience that he caters to. So if music was the first choice, one wonders if this was Vishal’s first love. “Well, I would say that I did not take up music but it took me up instead. In 1993 I started Pentagram, which was the turning point of my life. 1996 is when I started off in this industry and here I am. Even as a child I always loved music,” reminisces Vishal.
For someone with high credentials in the music industry, it becomes even tougher to maintain the status. But our man has one mantra of success that is not that easy to overrule. “Make good music and keep trying to do better.”
With the kind of competition in the business, many would wonder how he intends on managing to keep up with the high standards that have now come to be expected of him. “Some of the music directors are good friends of mine. I learn a lot from them and we talk about what we like, which is music. So it’s all good,” says Vishal.
Hope this camaraderie and excellent music are here to stay because it will easily take an eternity or more before we would have had enough of this man.
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