Point Blank with Harsha Bhogle

Harsha Harsha Bhogle is a man with multiple personalities. When he is not in the commentary box, he contributes as a columnist in The Indian Express and writes on espnstar. While he has an art to draw opinions from the experts in the commentary box, he is forthright and calls spade a spade in his writings.

Ravi Shastri, Sunny Gavaskar, Geoffery Boycott, Navjot Singh Sidhu are more his friends now than peers. He started out as a 19 year old who had only one dream; that of becoming India's best commentator. Today, he has not only done that, but also remains one of the most humble celebrities. Er, he says that celebrity is an overabused term.

There is more to Harsha than cricket alone! In this Point Blank "interview", Harsha shares his experiences right from the time he was a teenager where he lent his voice on All India Radio; when he got his first international assignment in 1993 during the Hero Cup till the recent T20 World Cup.

Ask him about that moment when he knew that he had succeeded in what he had dreamt of, he plays it down modestly

Listen Online (128 kbps): 33 mins

Downloading episode: MP3 (30 MB)

Note: Right-click on the above MP3 link and chose "Save target as " or "save link as" to download the file on your computer.

View interview in video: Link

Comments  

 
0 #1 Alok Shukla 2007-11-03 20:54
Hey guys,

Great job, interviewing one of the greatest interviewer of our time, (as I like to call him the commentator among commentators) is not as easy as you made out to be.

Thou you covered a wide gamut in there, in and around cricket... I was just curious to know what are his future plans... apart from what he is doing right now... .

keep up the good work guys... this one is for the book... :-)
regards
Alok
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0 #2 Rajiv 2007-11-03 21:45
Lovely podcast. I was a fan of him. I am adore him now.

Thank you Harsha.
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0 #3 Vikramraj vijayan 2007-11-04 17:46
WOW !

Never had an indepth look into cricketing world. Harsha is right in many things what he said in this interview. Being the richest board what is the board doing to improve our stadium, improve in the standards of cricket in India.

The interview was amazing and had thrown light on, what a our crazy fans wouldnt think about.

Good job a Abhishek!
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0 #4 Vaibhav Agarwal 2007-11-04 23:32
Hi Abhi....

The only word i can say abt ur work is \"Awesome..Awesome..Awesome\"..u were simply superb...It was so good to hear that one of my classnate is interviewing Harsha B.. you were doing amazing job yaar..I really liked the interview..All the best for your future!!!!
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0 #5 shub 2007-11-05 04:47
Thoroughly enjoyed that one. The man\'s simply brilliant! Thank for providing the mp3 file - this one\'s for keeps :-)
and oh, may I link this one on my blog?
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0 #6 Anuraag 2007-11-05 06:03
Hi people...I have not heard the interview, as i am not a fan of Harsha Bhogle, but I am thrilled that you two have made it to this level of interviewing the great celebrities....All the best !
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0 #7 Abhishek 2007-11-05 06:26
Dear Anuraag!

You live up your virtue of being point blank frank, don\'t you? But, you know what, it is people like Bhogle who make us look good among our friends and other netizens. But, we are proud of what we do and prouder that people like Bhogle and the likes are still around to lend their time for all we cricket lovers...

But, do listen to it even if you are not a Bhogle fan. I think you might like what you hear. Thanks for your kind words!
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0 #8 Kartick 2007-11-05 07:10
When you\'re editing an audio cast, why would you keep the line, \'let the camera pan to the man...\' SHOW OFF kar raha hai kya ki you got a video also? :-)

Boycott and Sidhu together - \'they\'re a handful\'... haha what a lovely sum up.

A good interview this - I think you got Harsha to \'talk\'. He was as opinionated about the game, the system, the matter of life and death and everything and couldn\'t have expected anymore.

Good job this Soldier, however I do believe Harsha took a great part of the onus of making this \'Harsha\'-while. :-)) Keep up the good work.
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0 #9 Sri Kumar 2007-11-05 07:43
Hey the show was amazing. Really man hats off to you for not getting intimidated by him...i would have shitted bricks when he joked about doing everything in one take. I had never before realized that he had such a commanding voice. I mean I have always heard him when he is around with other biggies of cricket, but, this was simply superb. And what a humble fellow. I mean he spoke about everything like how much he used to get paid and how he played the second fiddle in his own smart way while commentating without showing bitterness.

His take on the Australian board and the BCCI was also excellent. He explained it with such simple reasoning. My favourite part was the way he described Sachin. The buildup was so nice. First he described Ganguly then Dravid and then kind of compared them and saved the best for the last..\"people like tendulkar are just born once\"Man i felt like hugging him.

I had once seen his interview in which he said he said that he hated pompous and pretentious people and after listening to this podcast I
truly believe that he really preaches what he believes.

You were amazing...There were a few grammatical mistakes (which I have never seen before, at least not from your side)but maaf hain..I am sure
that was because of nervousness. To simply hold your nerves in front of a personality like him was amazing.. And I noticed that you are working on not trying to sound impatient..You know what, I would really love to watch u guys talking to Alan Wilkins. I am a huge fan of his..and your (not very) long term goal should b to get Tendulkar on the show...Way to go!!!!!!!all the best!!!!!!reall y enjoyed it.
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0 #10 Abhishek 2007-11-05 07:45
@ Alok: I wanted to ask him that interview question, \"So, where do you see yourself 10 days/years down the line? But, we had over run our 20 minutes by a fair margin and that humble soul didn\'t complain a bit. I had a million questions, but, guess what, may be in another decade let\'s get him on again. btw, you get the contract if ever a book is written!

@ Rajiv: Thanks for taking the effort to post the transcript of the interesting bits on your blog.

@Sri Kumar: You are a true cricket fan and a Sahin fan! Also, about his buid up to describe Sachin after talking about Saurav and Dravid was simply amazing. Right ly pointed out! He is a story teller, isn\'t he? Also, your observation that he is a modest man is an understatement! Believe me.

@ Vaibhav: I think it has been almost eight years since we have met! Nice to see you here and thanks for your kind words!

@Vikram: Let\'s hope that the world Cup 2011 will ensure that our stadiums are given a face lift! Good luck with your stint in the US.

@Shub: Thanks a lot! And nek kaam mein deri kaisee? Go link this on your blog and your older bro\'s blog.. your chacha mama\'s blog.. Let all cricket lovers get to listen to the man they call, \'Harsha Bhogle\'!
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0 #11 Abhishek 2007-11-05 08:44
Hi Kartick,

You got that right! Your \'Harshavayu\' experience is credited to Harsha! Man, you and your wise cracks! I had to read that a few times. I think we need to get devnagiri script in our comments section to accommodate your jokes!

Boycott and Sidhu. What I loved about the talk was that while he summarised how he handles the two of them by saying, \"If Sidhu has given a long answer, I\'ll got to Geoffery twice.\" And while doing all this his producer is talking to him in his ear. He needs to know when he has to break for commercials. He has to choose from among four experts sitting with him. (\"If I think Gavaskar will give a more considerate answer to this question, i will go to him.\") All this while the live telecast is on! In this talk, he says all of this and then very modestly underplays it by saying, \"I mean, it\'s not as dramatic as it sounds.\"

Yeah, he sure was outspoken. But, if you read his columns in Indian Express and on espnstar, he comes across as a very opinionated guy. No surprises there, but, we have not seen him being so frank when he is on air. But, then, we know why and we also know now how he gets a more authoritative source like an Ian Chapel to talk about something that he already knows. That\'s an art known to Harsha...

And yeah, the video will be out soon... very soon
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0 #12 Akhilesh Mattoo 2007-11-05 17:32
Hi!!!!!
One of the most spontaneous interviews i have heard... very candid , honest and modest....
modesty personified when he comes to explain the perspective that indians have lost on cricket..... cricket is not war and not the question of life and death.... but the jawan at Siachen is facing death everyday....i dont think you need to say any more than that.. This line is enough to state that this country has lost the perspective on the game altogether...

also your comments on how to manage the opinions in the commenatry box were mind boggling because only Harsha could have given those...

Brilliant stuff Harsha for such a great interview....

And Abhishek you did a great job too but Harsha was too good to be true
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0 #13 Stone 2007-11-05 19:06
Man,that was fantastic, best I\'ve ever heard!!!

Thanks guys for the splendid effort!
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0 #14 Abhishek 2007-11-05 20:51
Hi Akhi. To draw an analogy to what you meant about Harsha -

It was like a Jayasurya-Kaluwitharna 100 run partnership where Jayasurya scores almost all the runs and Kalu gives the strike back to him. Aditya and I played Kalu and Harsha was kind enough to let us do that while he played Jayasurya with panache.
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0 #15 Abhishek 2007-11-05 20:53
Hey Stone,

Thank you! The man made it easy for us! Made us look good, didn\'t he?
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0 #16 Suhasa 2007-11-06 04:24
It was really nice to listen to harsha \'point blank\' as you guys put it. Love the passion with which the man speaks. Very uncharacteristi c of him, compared to his commentary. thanks for the link. :-)
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0 #17 kalpesh yagnik 2007-11-06 09:53
it is really good to listen . keep it up guyes

best of luck
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0 #18 Abhishek 2007-11-06 13:08
@Suhana: Nicely put. Harsha was Point Blank.. truely. Read his columns on he Indian Express and you\'ll know how opinionated he is!
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0 #19 kuvley 2007-11-06 20:17
I truely relished this half hour.

This really pealed some layers off HARSHA and he spoke his heart. I have always seen him subdued and meek on TV but here he was assertive and opionated.

Nice to have an insider view of Ganguly and Dravid and Aussies..

Great Work Guys..
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0 #20 Deepak 2007-11-07 07:20
hey guys

justice is absolute done. This is probably one of the best conversations which i would ve listened to for months. Harsha\'s modest just can seem to find someone like tht. i mean his comments nd views of Sachin was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. my dream would be to see Saurav and Harsha in the commentary box together. i m sure harsha would agree to it. It was an absolute insight of harsha giving his views on the aussie system nd indian system. really a pleasure to listen to him. good job guys. really envy u ppl JUST FOR THIS INTERVIEW. i mean Harsha s probably one single guy everybody would want to engage in a meaningful conversation with. U just captivated 30 mins of my morning with this lovely convo. good job folks. would like to see much more from ur end.
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0 #21 Abhishek 2007-11-07 11:59
Hi Kuvley,

I understand that you are a bit surprised since Harsha was a lot more outspoken in this conversation as compared to that on air. And Harsha himself gave the answer, didn\'t he? And I suggest you go and read his writings in newspapers and on espnstar. And then you\'ll know that Aditya and I spoke to Harsha, the writer!

And unlike what you think, he isn\'t subdued and meek on TV. In fact, like he said, his job description allows him to get the experts to talk! \"He knows the answers, but he gets them from a more authoritative source like an Ian or a Geoffery!\"

Thanks for all those words! Keep listening!
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0 #22 Abhishek 2007-11-07 12:09
Hi Deepak!

Picture this. Harsha gets four calls from home and he doesn't take any! while the camera is rolling midway. We had asked him for 20 minutes and he gave us a good 45 min. And he is palpably hungry after a 5 hour marathon for a corporate. But, these are little things that cannot be captured on camera. And these are the little things that genuine modest people are made of.

Thanks a lot for all those kind words! And Harsha and dada would be quite a team. I think it would bring back the Boycott-Bhogle jodi!
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0 #23 SM 2007-11-07 12:17
thanx 4 d link... it was really wat u call a point blank interview.... i likd d most wen u askd him abt
\'somone workin 4 some othr channel immitatin u\'
i had noted this earlier n was glad 2 see u put up dis topic 2 him....

As usual Harsha is so simply simple with playin with words.... gr8 2 hear..... i must complement u 4 dis work...
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0 #24 Arvind 2007-11-07 12:25
Applause for the way u held ur own with Harsha..m personally a big fan of his, n i do know that the guy is quite a bit to handle at interviews..wat with his experience!

i think u did quite well with the interview....n i think i even heard Aditya\'s voice along with a couple more..envious of u guys that u cud meet with Harsha n talk abt cricket n more...yaar cricket hi to zindagi hai apni..hehe..it was a nice interview..touching upon various topics...i know there is so much to ask..yet so little time..but i think u managed to do ample justice to the limited time available to u..

wat did u personally think of the interview?..must be quite proud of urself considering u did it in one take. I particularly enjoyed the passion in which he spoke abt Sourav, Dravid and Sachin.....m in NY currently scheduled to return end of this month...hopefully we can catch up..n maybe learn some stuff from u guys...good goin yaar!..all the best!! keep in touch...
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0 #25 sharvari 2007-11-07 18:08
hey great work guys!
those 33 mins were worth it...
abhishek u were good. u almost covered everything...
hats off!
my favourite one liner of the interview...\'do i have my wits around today?\'
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