What is amazing about Sachin is that for 20 years he has been able to maintain a level. There has been no dip in his abilities, his application or his passion for the game. I would say very few people could last this long. I’ve played cricket and believe me, you can’t get out of bed for one week after one gruelling match.I saw him for the first time in 1988 when I was shooting at the Brabourne Stadium and he wasn’t playing for the Indian team yet. The team was practising at the nets and I was chatting with Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar and a few others. At a distance I could see this kid batting. I was surprised to see that he was middling the ball; he looked so small, and so young. I was zapped. I wondered who this little boy was, who was being allowed to practise at the nets with the Indian cricket team.

So I asked Kapil and Vengsarkar, “Who’s he? How come I don’t know?” They told me he was a new guy called Sachin Tendulkar, who was being seriously considered for the Indian team. So I had the good fortune of seeing Sachin play even before he walked into the team.The first time I met him was in 1990 when he came to the sets of Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Andaz Apna Apna. I don’t know how many people will recall this but it was Sachin who gave the clap for the mahurat shot at Mehboob Studios in Bandra. We met briefly and over the years we have been meeting off and on. We have been to each other’s homes.I have shown him all my movies, even Andaz Apna Apna which took three years to make. He came along with members of the Mumbai Ranji team to Bandra’s Gem theatre in the G-7 complex where I had organised a preview for them.Whenever we meet, we talked about both cricket and films.

He saw Ghajini at the test screening in my Khar office.He saw Taare Zameen Par also at the test screening. We stay in touch through SMS and when he plays really well, I promptly send him a text congratulating him — like when he smashed 175 in Hyderabad.What’s so attractive about Sachin’s game is the joy and passion with which he approaches the game. There is a lot of intensity in his game whether he is batting, bowling or fielding. For me, everything he does is perfect. I like to watch him open the innings in the ODIs. It gives me a high.

Expressing indignation over a poster of Karan Johar’s latest production ‘Kurbaan’, where actress Kareena Kapoor is shown flashing her bare back, Shiv Sena workers on Friday tied a saree around one such poster in suburban Juhu.The party also reportedly threatened to stall screenings in cinemas if the scene showing Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan undressed is not removed.

Women Shiv Sena members, led by area Vibhagpramukh Jitendra Janawale, tied a saree around the poster of Kareena, who is shown holding a bare-chested Saif Ali Khan, her real life boyfriend in the image.”How are such obscene posters being allowed by the authorities,” Janawale asked. “Several women and children pass by the posters. What effect will it have on them,” he added.

“We will soon visit Kareena’s residence and present her a saree,” he said.The movie, starring Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi, is slated for release later this month. It is directed by Rensil D’Silva and is a romance set against the backdrop of terrorism. It has been shot in Philadelphia, Delhi and Mumbai.