How SRK made a cheerleader a tearleader
After Wankhede, SRK wants to be banned from Eden Gardens
How SRK cleared Sunil Narine
When SRK interviewed Sunil Narine (for KKR)
For SRK, Sid Mallya...
Shahrukh Khan will dance at Sahara weddings for generations to come (price of BCCI-Sahara peace)
Somewhere Sourav Ganguly linked up stardom, sports and weddings – his winning proposal to the Saharas, if SRK is so damn keen to dance for the BCCI, why not make him dance for you too? Translated from the Bengali – if SRK wants to negotiate on the BCCI’s behalf, make him dance for you.
Sourav and SRK go back some way, mostly 'my way or the highway'. What better than to make SRK dance; the Saharas pounced on the idea. He may not be Salman, but he’s still SRK. And he likes doing weddings.
Sourav sweetened the deal for both Sahara and himself: Make him dance for the next four generations of Sahara weddings, let me choose the dance mixes.
SRK who’s known to be fiercely loyal to his KKR franchise agreed on the condition that Dada dances with him to Korbo Lorbo Jeetbe Ro.
Dada who has a poor dancing record, last seen with Hrithik Roshan in the Hero ad, blurted out, “who me??”
Shahrukh to Ganguly -
Sachin's other son
Killer video with Jatman, SRK, SRT, Shoaib Akhtar. Extras: SMG, Shoaib Mirza + Shri Sahara.
Thanks to The Cricket Couch for this video
KKR picks Mohammad Irfan.
Shoaib Akhtar & Bhajji get it off in the middle and elsewhere at the team hotel
That was during the game, but here's what happened after the game at the team hotel
Bhajji: Yaar Shoiab, you were sexy
Shoiab: Noh maan you were verry cool man you were so much hot tension in the middle
Bhajji: Sachin told me you gotta play hard in the middle
Shoaib: You were hard mate
Bhajji: You were hard too yaar
Shoaib: Still friends mate always mates man
Bhajji: You are like my bara pra
Shoiab: Don't make me blush mate thanks mate so sweet of you mate
Bhajji: Don't call me mate, I won game call me checkmate
Shoiab: Ok checkmate mate whatever man cool man
Bhajji: Tell me yaar how was it like to be lifted by SRK
Shoiab: Very emotional moment for me personally checkmate mate man
Bhajji: Why do you always talk like an a**h**le talk straight yaar
Shoiab: That was not very straight checkmate mate man
Bhajji: Good joke yaar
Shoiab: What joke, serious, I'm a saying it like I saw it now don't make me a joker
Bhajji: (aside) What a loser...Ok bye Shoaib, Yuvi wants to wish me...
Shoaib: Say Hi to Yuvi mate I mean checkmate
Bhajji: Haha Yuvi is saying Hi Hi Shoaib
look what Saurav's saying to SRK...
Give KKR its due
Must admit, I have my reservations with the IPL. While the finals will be played on Sunday, 24th May, between two lacklustre teams – could be either Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Punjab, maybe even Bangalore, spare a thought for Kolkata – for they spared none. Yet in spite of that, how they’ve played, and how they've payed! It’s time we honour the heartbreak kids. I propose a game for the losers, the winners of broken hearts. Give them another game, one which they cannot lose. Let them play amongst themselves – KKR v KKR A. Let one team be led by McCullum, the other by Ganguly. Let them toss for the team names too. A team with so many factions deserves no less. And while they’re at it, how about a mini KKR league, made up of 8 KKR teams. That way, every game KKKR will win. And SRK will never go away!
In Defence of Lalit Modi and SRK
The “Baadshah of Bollywood” and I
I remember the days when we played cricket together, the “Baadshah of Bollywood” (King of Bollywood), Shah Rukh Khan and I. We were schoolmates. He was the wicket keeper and I the opening batsmen for our junior school cricket team at St. Columba’s School, New Delhi.
One thing is for sure, SRK was more dynamic and charming behind the wicket than I was.
I played the ‘slow & steady, old style knocks’ that kept one end of the wicket fortified. That was the call of the day. Dynamic, ‘fling around the bat in any style cricket’ culminating in today’s T20 format was unthinkable back then. Our coaches, Gurcharan Singh (an ex Ranji Trophy coach) and Br. Eric Steven D’Souza (a Vice Principal at our school and cricket coach, also SRK’s mentor since then) would have disapproved of the awkward and effective batting techniques as used today by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But, regardless of what I think today, two dear friends of mine always claimed and continue to claim that my style was more like that of Anshuman Dattajirao Gaekwad (Indian test team 1975 - 1985), implying that it was slow and… ah, well, let’s not talk about it. Yes, I still am in a state of partial denial about playing slow knocks in 20-30 over games.
Whatever, we emulated long innings played by ‘The Masters’ of our day and age, eg. Sunil (Sunny) Gavaskar. Believe it or not, I had even adapted his stance, i.e. ‘fixate the right leg, lift the one on the left, circle it around and then gently let it fall into position’. Enjoy looking at any old video footage to see what I am talking about. This is, seen today, as funny and special as Sachin (The Little Master) Tendulkar’s leg bends whilst standing, just before he takes his batting position.
The reasons for the two masters so diverse movements surely were quite different. After analyzing the movement so unique to Sachin, it must be said that it originates in a crotch guard that refused to stay in place or one that tweaked his gonads a little too frequently. Sachin, being an Indian, could of course have indulged in a very Indian men’s habit: crotch scratching or repositioning in public! But, because he was being filmed and constantly scrutinized on screen, he refrained from that rather disgusting habit whenever he was out there on the pitch. Whatever, his special habit did not disappear even though cricketing equipment got better and better over the years. Now, I cannot criticize what Sunny did because I imitated him. Well, that’s how much of an influence ‘The Greats’ had on us.
At practice, I remember SRK finding my Sunny Gavaskar style left leg lift quite funny and then he would invariably have his effervescent, dimple-cheeked smile going for me. Yup, he was always very amused.
I remember SRK, possibly emulating the great wicketkeeper Syed Mujtaba Hussein Kirmani (Indian test team 1976 - 1986), being somewhat relaxed/ sluggish in nature but he used to come alive once he was behind the stumps, keeping wicket. Others will confirm that SRK also played field hockey. Regardless of the sport, most will agree that he was athletic back then. Seeing his dance steps, hip moves, pirouettes and what have you on screen today, chasing fictitious gangsters or real heroines around, one will agree – he is athletic even today. I shall not comment on his ‘6-Pack Abs’, as I have never seen or felt them.
Shah Rukh was an amicable guy, i.e. he always was in a good mood around me. We had fun on the cricket field and off of it. Being junior to me by two years at school obviously meant that we were less around each other, i.e. once we were off the cricket field. But we had common friends. One of his best friends Vivek (Khushu) Khushlani spent a whole lot more time with me in the pool back then. We were on the school swimming team together. Khushu was smaller and thinner then and is much taller and bigger now. You’ll see him often on TV with his very silver, straight hair, sitting there, right next to Shah Rukh Khan. Yup, he’s SRK’s buddy alright.
Talking of TV… I guess that it was a combination of many things that got SRK involved with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) T20 team that play in the DLF IPL tournament. Besides friends that coaxed him into it, the prime reason is that SRK is an avid sports fan. He appreciated all forms of sport back then and does so even now. Some might ask, is this also because it is about the big money? The answer is rather straightforward: SRK has never denied that he will do what makes him happy and more successful. For a man that emerged from a modest background, he has all the rights to enjoy the proceeds and laurels of his own hard work.
Like many of us, including most mentioned in this article, even SRK’s wife Gauri Khan (maiden name ‘Chibba’) was what we, in India, call ‘convent educated’. She went to Loreto Convent in New Delhi and her love story can be read all over the world-wide-web. Nope, she did not play cricket but she did fall in love with KKR’s owner!
I mention love and I must think about my girlfriend, Kavita. Her late father Col. Bob Muthanna was in the Army with SRK’s father-in-law Captain Ramesh Chibba, both a part of the ‘1st Sikh Light Infantry’ (Battalion). Ramesh had left the Army and Bob passed away in 1989 but their wives have been in touch ever since.
Okay, jumping a bit… there’s the recent success story of “The Zoya Factor”, a book on the passion of cricket in its many dimensions, written by Anuja Chauhan. No, she is not Sunny Gavaskar’s opening batsman partner Chetandra (Chetan) Pratap Singh Chauhan’s (Indian test team 1969 - 1981) daughter but yes, she is married to Niret (Choku) Alva, co-owner of MidiTech TV, also an ex batch mate of mine and schoolmate of ours. He just about landed up being my brother-in-law back then, believe it or not? It gets better: My girlfriend’s cousin, Pria is married to Niret’s younger brother Nikhil (Niki) Alva, also known to me from my school days. Yet another connection!
Now, here’s another angle to it: The rights to film “The Zoya Factor” are now with SRK. How did these get to him? Well, Anuja knew SRK from her days managing the Pepsi account at J. Walter Thompson Advertising, where she is an Executive Creative Director and Vice-President today. SRK was then a brand ambassador for Pepsi.
Now, if you think that is it… Ha, check this out… back to the IPL:
Lalit Kumar Modi, the Chairman & Commissioner, also the “Wizard of the IPL” was not only my schoolmate, he was my class mate, too (in 11-B). We actually studied together or should I say bought our books together. Yup, we did.
Six degrees of separation, huh?!
I guess we are all related or are all known to each other in some way or the other. These are all connections indeed to the “Baadshah of Bollywood” but nothing beats first-hand memories and narratives from friends.
Besides, times might change but one’s love for cricket and each other doesn’t really ‘take a hit’ or ‘go for a six’… what a great game!!
by Ajoy Eric Lal
Went to school with Shah Rukh Khan and even played cricket with him in the early 1980s. You’ll find him seated on page 60 in the Baadshah of Bollywood’s coffee table book called “SRK” but the date there is all wrong.
SRK Press Briefing
"Dear friends in the media,
This is to inform you that from now on any person who puts forward the KKR issue in front of SRK would be treated akin to someone hurling shoes at him. Once caught red-handed, the offenders would be suitably punished by - i) being put in charge of KKR for full one season;or/and ii) made to attend 10 mandatory one-to-one sessions with John Buchanan.
Signed by SRK PR"
by sp + som
New Knight Riders' Cheerleader!
"It's good to have SRK at matches"
I had a Eureka! Moment earlier today, convinced I’d cracked the solution to KKR’s woe kaun thi? It was clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that SRK had to return from South Africa for KKR to have a hope in hell.
That was before I read what seemed to be an unhip piece by the hip Gayle – the column, imaginatively titled, Opening Salvo, headline: It’s good to have SRK at matches. What do they bum cigarettes off SRK, why is it good?
Saving you from the humdrum piece, I’ll cut to the chase:
Shah Rukh Khan our team owner spoke to us after the last game and encouraged us. It is good to have him around the team. He usually sends us good wishes before a game. His words of encouragement always helps to pep up the side. His motto is simple: Do battle and fight hard. The result will take care of itself. Hopefully this tonic will leads us into the semifinals.
“leads us” give me another.
KKR have a ghost of a chance to make the semis, not gonna happen with ghost writing from some suit who brings no joy to the team.
If SRK flies back tomorrow, then he is the Fake IPL Player.
A return flight from South Africa to India entails checking in your identity, and becoming the fake. Especially if you belong to KKR and can read, write, and are bitter.
Earlier today, as reported here, Akash Chopra (Shakespeare?) and Sanjay Bangar (Lordie’s run-out partner) were told to buzz off to India.
Chopra is literate, Bangar I cannot say. When it comes to the IPL however, neither has read the script well. For that matter, neither has SRK.
Computerjee, what is the correct answer? 1) Chopra 2) Bangar 3) Khan 4) None of the above
Do you want to know who the Fake IPL Player is?
With great knowledge comes great responsibility. Here we are sitting on the identity of the Fake IPL Player. It’s something you want to blurt out, blow the whistle on, yet at the same time you know it sucks.
It’s not about the wrong or right thing here. More like, do you want to end the joyride? Killjoy Bhattacharya who called him ‘poison pen’ would love to.
But what will we get by revealing who the Fake IPL Player is? Guess deep down you all want to know – is he a KKR player, is he even a player, is he SRK’s idea, is he a journo, is he a blogger, is he a creative type, is he even in South Africa, is he in Calcutta or is he in Mumbai?
Think we know where you are Fake. Think you know we know where you are Fake. Should we start with a few hints? Have we already said too much?
Are we playing with you Fake? Just like you’re playing with us? Or the KKR guys?
Oh, does that eliminate a KKR insider. Is this another red herring, looks like we’ve been reading too much of your stuff.
What do you think guys, should we little by little, bit by bit, start stripping the seven veils of Fake? Or do it straight on, give you his good name, his good Bengali name?
This is crazy, sitting on fake’s identity. Now we know what it feels like Fake.Tell us what you think, it’ll make our decision a lot easier.
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