 May 22, 2008
Celebrities Speak Their Mind
The IPL has been generating quite a buzz throughout the country. For the first time in the history of cricket in India, cricket and entertainment have formed a perfect coalition resulting in a new term 'cricketainment'—used a lot these days to describe the event.
Besides the duels between the teams on field, there is a lot happening off it, too. The 'celebrity quotient' that's so integral to every match and which adds colour to it, cannot be ignored and is a vital aspect of the games. We have Shahrukh Khan with his franchisee team Kolkata Knight Riders, roping in Arjun Rampal to lend support, Katrina Kaif who's seen often with Vijay Mallya, cheering his team Bangalore Royal Challengers. Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia who're engrossed with their very own King's XI Punjab's progress in the competition and so on.
When a few celebrities were quizzed about their interest in T20 action and allegiance to certain teams in the IPL, there were some who followed it closely, others who just want to see good cricketing action and a few of them who were not so interested in this format.
Musician Shaan, who's given us melodies like 'Tanha Dil' and 'Bhool Ja' was more keen on seeing good individual player performances, besides having a bit of a soft corner for Kolkata. "I'm looking forward to a hundred scored by Ganguly and seeing Sachin in action. There's also bowlers Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth to look out for. "
Chunky Pandey who has just arrived in town, admitted, " I'm not following the matches too closely. Though technically I support Mumbai, I'm also lending support to Kolkata because of my friend Shahrukh. In this 20-20 format, anything can happen, with a team going from top to bottom and then from the bottom to the top."
DJ Akbar Sami, clearly wasn't too impressed with this competition. "I'm just watching it as a spectator, not supporting any team," he said when asked about the team he supports.
He had some strong words too, "I believe it's just a tamasha, I prefer watching the original form of cricket – One Day Internationals and Tests."
Ram Gopal Verma's, wonderboy Mohit Ahlawat was brief in his comment—" I watch the matches and I support all teams." Coinciding with him, Item girl Rakhi Sawant when asked about her take on the competition , said that she watches the matches whenever she's free and said she supports all the teams in the IPL.
-Ketki Koli, Hill Road Media
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