It was by far the most entertaining discussions to have happened on day one of FICCI Frames 2010. Former Cricketer Ajay Jadeja, Former Hockey striker Viren Rasquinha and actor Rahul Bose got together to discuss the amalgamation of Sports and Entertainment today.
Ajay began the conversation by saying how Bollywood has acted as the icing on the cake for IPL. “IPL will survive because people like Cricket but Bollywood had a strong role to play in its success” said the charming Cricketer. He further dared to elaborate his opinion by giving a hypothetical example. “If Shah Rukh Khan chooses to leave KKR tomorrow, it will definitely be a bigger dent to the franchise and IPL as a whole than a Saurav Ganguly leaving KKR. Today, Shah Rukh Khan is certainly a bigger brand than Ganguly but say a few years back in 2003, things were different. Ganguly then spoke with his bat and today it doesn’t happen much. Bollywood has brought glamour to the game and it has widened the reach of the game. Today more ladies watch the game because they like Shah Rukh and they spot him sitting in the stands watching his team play. Bollywood has certainly expanded the audiences of the game. “
Last year in the second season of the IPL when SRK and his coach had asked Ganguly to step down as the captain of KKR, it had created a huge furor in the country with the majority backing Ganguly and not SRK. Then many believed Shah Rukh shouldn’t interfere in Cricket no matter how big a star he was.
Ajay’s comments were thus surprising. Ajay was neither diplomatic nor was mincing words fearing a supposed controversy that his statements might trigger.
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