Virender Sehwag won’t play cricket for India anymore.

With his retirement, the golden era of Indian cricket is over.

A group of highly skilled and passionate cricketers, who formed one of the best line-ups in world, helped take Indian cricket to new heights that resulted in the team’s unprecedented rise to attain the numero uno status in Tests for the first time in 2009.

By the time India reached the top spot in test ranking in 2009, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble had already hung their boots. A few years later, in 2012, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman retired. A year later, Sachin Tendulkar decided to quit international cricket. With Sehwag’s departure from international cricket, the golden era of Indian cricket is now a piece of history.

These players, now iconic figures in Indian cricket, gave wings to the imagination of every cricket fan in the country, entertained cricket viewers around the world, brought grace and dignity to the sport and gave us sweet memories to last forever.

Not often do you come across such brilliance in one team. If one has to find similar quality in one line-up, Australian team under Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting would certainly quality. Apart from that, no other team would possibly qualify from that era.

The best part of the Indian team in the last decade and half is that it had a mix of everything that a cricket lover could ask for. When they played, they were like classical music – rich, profound and in perfect rhythm. They lifted the team when needed, complemented each other well and at the same time were successful in creating their own niche.

Though they had separate and distinct styles, they were bound by the passion and love for cricket. Sachin Tendulkar was the god, the supremo, a person who did who could do wrong on a cricket field. Rahul Dravid was the silent protector – much like the Batman – who possessed great technique and temperament. Sourav Ganguly was a fighter, a man of steel, and one of the finest captains India ever had. V.V.S. Laxman was a poet with the bat. His every shot played with wrist was poetry in motion. Anil Kumble was a fighter and a fierce competitor. However, the one who had no similarity with the rest was Virender Sehwag. He is supremely talented and rewrote the rules and grammar of batsmanship with exceptional audacity and amazing skills.

It was through their great skills and cricketing acumen, the team earned great respect both on and off the field. It was a combined effort of the team and individual belief that culminated in India gaining No. 1 status in Test cricket and winning the world cup in 2011.

The records tell the story of their enormous achievements. But these men are worth a lot more then what the numbers show. Besides being great cricketers, they have been wonderful ambassadors of cricket. They added immense value of the sport and left the fans with opportunities to tell stories that their grand kid would be hearing in years to come.

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Bachelorhood is one of the recurring themes for Bollywood, with several films being made on this subject, especially in the last couple of decades.

Let’s look at some of the popular Bollywood Movies that define crazy bachelor life like none other.

Dostana (2008)

The movie, Dostana, which revolves around love and friendship, was adored  and appreciated by the Indian audiences so much that it became one of the highest grossing films in that year. The film is a story about Kunal Chauhan (played by John Abraham) and Sameer ‘Sam’ Acharya (played by Abhishek Bachchan) becoming friends while they go hunting for an apartment, in Miami. Getting a flat in Miami is no easy task, if you are a bachelor; so, they pretend to be a gay couple and eventually succeed in getting one. Later Kunal and Sameer fall in love with the landlady’s daughter, Neha Melwani (played by Priyanka Chopra), and then what follows is a series of events comprising of love, hate, betrayal, break-up (all with substantial comic twists). However, everything ends in a happy and peaceful note! Hail Bollywood!

Cocktail (2012)

The movie Cocktail is a classic tale of friendship, love and heartbreak. The plot revolves around Veronica D’Costa (played by Deepika Padukone), playboy Gautam Kapoor (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera (played by Diana Penty). The film shows the crazy and carefree lives of Veronica and Gautam, as they share a no-strings-attached relationship and continue to be friends. The trio share the same flat, eats, sleeps and hangs out together, as their friendship deepens.  It’s when Gautam’s mother visits him, things get a little too complicated. Gautam pretends to be in a relationship with Meera, while he continues to date Veronica. That follows breaks their relationship and friendship apart, until they go their separate ways. However, fate had some other plans for them; at the end, the movie makes you feel happy as Gautam marries Meera.

Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara (2011)

Friends! Road trips! Beautiful locales! Already sounds a winner, isn’t it? It’s a story of three best friends who set out on a three-week long bachelor trip to Spain. The film has all the elements of a typical entertainer. The movie explores various aspects of the lives of the characters and the impact all the events had on their respective lives. With an amazing cast and beautiful story, Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara is full of messages that would make you ponder. The use of symbolism is very apt and pretty well depicted as well.

Rang De Basanti (2006)

This was one of the landmark films to have come out of Bollywood. The director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, succeeded in linking the Indian’s freedom struggle with the contemporary socio-political situation in the country. The film tells the story of a group of friends who decide to raise their voice against the Indian government for the injustice done to one of their friends. They choose to give their lives for their friend. The film has moved Indian audiences like never before, and left most in tears.

Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

Let’s end with the film that started it all. Dil Chahta Hai! It is an important film, in the context of Indian film industry. It broke a lot of taboos and created new rules for the industry. It’s a cool film, no doubt; and, importantly, it taught people to be cool. It celebrates friendship, love, riches, wealth and relationships. All of us can, still, identify with either one of Sidharth (Sid), Sameer or Akash. If not, we certainly have a friend who does. These three characters are so real. You can feel they exist.

Then I could also remember Ye Jawaani Hai Diwani, Fuqrey and a few more, that brought the craziness of bachelor life to some of most invigorating canvases.

With this list, I just tried to scratch the surface.

However, you can go ahead and tell me your most loved bachelor flick in Bollywood.

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Hollywood never ceases to amaze us, and many times we are awestruck, for the backdrop some of the movies portray.

Today, through this story, I am going to try to bring to you the magnificent canvases that inspired me to wander. These brilliant movies actually awakened the traveller in me.

Let’s see these 10 Hollywood Movies that will inspire you to travel and explore the world!

Wild (2014)

The film is about a woman’s 1,100miles solo hike undertaken to get over the recent personal tragedies. With no prior experience, a pair of ill-fitted hiking shoes, a heavy backpack, and nothing else but her strong will, Reese Witherspoon, portraying Cheryl Strayed, sets out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, one of the toughest and longest through-trails in the country. The movie will make you happy and inspire you to travel alone.

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Bahubali, a vast historical drama that fascinated millions of Indian moviegoers this month, has left the Indian Film Industry a little perplexed, with box-office experts viewing the movie’s runaway success as a warning bell for Bollywood.

Though a regional film, made in Telugu-language, and staring actors, not known outside of south India, Bahubali has made a tremendous business of over 850 million rupees within a fortnight of its release, in Bollywood’s traditional stronghold.

What is even more interesting is that the film’s good run at the box-office was not affected by the release of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, a new Hindi film featuring the star actor Salman Khan.

It’s not just a regional film like Bahubali, dubbed as the most expensive cinema made in India with top-notch computer graphic, which is threatening Bollywood’s monopoly in the country. Out of the top five successful films in the first half of 2015, three were from Hollywood.

Released in April, Furious 7, the seventh film in the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, earned more than 1 billion rupees in India, as did Jurassic World, the dinosaur extravaganza that released in May. The same story continues for Avengers: Age of Ultron that grossed around 700 million rupees in India, overtaking some of Bollywood’s big-ticket movies like Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Dil Dhadakne Do, Bombay Velvet and Roy.

Should Bollywood, the world’s biggest film industry by output, be alarmed by the current scenario, where its movies are failing to impress its audiences?

Yes! The industry has every reason to worry.

All the creativity and innovation is coming from outside.

Be it the Hollywood franchise movies or regional films like Bahubali, they all have a larger audience pool now, than what they enjoyed before.

Hollywood producers, in the past, have always struggled to grab a foothold in the domestic movie market in India. However, the last few years have seen some drastic change in the trend. Thanks to movie franchises like Batman, Superman, Iron Man, and Transformers, Hollywood movies have made a prominent mark among the Indian audiences. Hollywood’s gross box-office collections in India have jumped to significant numbers in the last two years compared to the years before that.

Bollywood, on the other hand, has failed to create too many successful franchises, and have chosen to survive on the popularity and charisma of few top stars to woo the audience. People in India, especially the younger generation, are exposed to Hollywood movies like never before; add to it the U.S. television series (Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad, Hannibal, Suits, etc.) that are a huge success in India, and they expect the same quality from Bollywood cinema.

Did Bahubali’s tremendous success ring the death bell for Bollywood? Or, are we judging too quickly?

Whatever the discourse may be, one thing is proved by Bahubali’s success. Indian audiences now have other options. This could be the beginning of the end of Bollywood’s monopoly in the Indian movie market.

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