One news that caught my attention a few days back was about Shilpa Shetty.
Shilpa Shetty and her boyfriend Raj Kundra bought a 11% stake in Rajasthan Royals for an estimated sum of Rs.83 crores. Wow! What an astonishing figure to pay for a 12% stake in a Cricket Club!
It is not the amount that is bothering me, what bothers me is the “Me Too” tendency amongst the glamour dolls of Indian Film Industry as if there is no other business in the world.
Look at what happened – When IPL started there were just four or five celebrities raring to take the risk. Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla of Red Chillies Entertainment became the lead promoters in Kolkata Knight Ri ders. Preity Zinta and her boyfriend Ness Wadia bought a significant stake in Kings XI Punjab.
Subsequently Tamil Superstar Vijay and actress Nayantara became the ambassador for Chennai Super Kings while Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar became the brand ambassadors of Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challengers and GMR’s Delhi Daredevils respectively. And now we have Shilpa Shetty and her beau.
Not that Indian cricket and Bollywood did not have a connection. They definitely had – Sharmila-Tiger Pataudi, Azhar-Sangeeta Bijlani et al are shining examples. We also had the likes of Sandeep Patil, Mohsin Khan (Pakistan) and in the last few years, speedster Salil Ankola trying their luck at Bollywood and/or Indian Television. This trend seems to be growing north. With the launch of IPL last year, Indian cricket seems to have taken a big leap in bridging the gap.
Is this the right thing to happen to Indian Cricket? I don’t know.
Purists will tell you that the glamour industry could take the steam out of Indian cricketers. What happened with Pataudi, Salil Ankola, Sandip Patil and the dozens who tried their hands at Bollywood or their glamour dolls. Purists will also give you examples of dozens of Premier Leagues in Football, Soccer, Basketball, Tennis etc are not well represented by the glamour industry. Why should Indian cricket be an exception ?
The broadminded ones, like you and me 
, will tend to believe that glamour and cricket are inseparable, for cricket is a religion in India and Bollywood stars are Gods. Cricket and Bollywood are like husband and wife – one can not live without the other. There can be innumerable analogies that can establish this relationship and as long as we have a thriving population of glamour and cricket fanatics, the euphoria of being in a relationship will continue. It is a never ending debate.
The meat of the matter is that we, Indians, love cricket and we also love Bollywood. And when Bollywood Glamour and Cricket Stars promises to entertain the entire nation together, there is only one person who is the most benefited – The Spectator!
Three cheers for the Indian Spectator.
Ashkalakiri ashkalakiri hooh haah, hooh haah !
Ashkalakiri ashkalakiri hooh haah, hooh haah !
Ashkalakiri ashkalakiri hooh haah, hooh haah !
Image Credit: Vijay Bhandari
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