How SRK made a cheerleader a tearleader
After Wankhede, SRK wants to be banned from Eden Gardens
A film on Lalit Modi.
There could be a film made on Lalit Modi – and I thought he was a motion picture already. I’m glad Madhur Bhandakar denies making it, it’ll be low budget with no production values, and street art doesn’t go with Modi.
Ideally that guy who made Benhur should make Modi, but Modi is a self-made man. Also, Wyler’s dead, and dead men walk but don’t make movies.
Then there’s talk that SRK could play LKM – must be initial talks. Why don’t they make it like that film based on Dylan, with various actors playing Modi. That way you can get the whole damn franchise owners to play Modi (or did he play them) – imagine, Zinta as Modi, Shetty as Modi, Dr M as Modi, India Cements and MGR as Modi.
Here are some priceless bits –
"The film is a great mix of entertainment, sports and a whole emotional vibe. Lalit's story has all the ingredients - rags to riches, fame, money and all that Indian audiences are going to enjoy watching. Indians at large would love to watch a good cricket marketing film," he added.
Singh also hinted at a presence of major cricket players in the movie.
"They are a part of the script because it happens to be based on IPL that has around 200 cricketers in it. They do happen to be a part of the cast unless any cricketer has a strict objection to being in the film," he said.
OK, so Bhajji, Lee, Yuvi are in. If need be, Bhajji and Lee will play double roles, and Yuvi is already double. Priety Zinta and Shilpa Shetty will be there, and if they really want to make a nice, seedy film, rope in the Bhatts too. Emraan Hashmi will make it for free.
As for playing Modi, I believe this man should get the role -
Nail Biting Cricketers!
Amazing that -- in a [so-called] gentleman’s sport – these guys are allowed to do it and get away with it?! Why no fines here??
Let’s analyze this somewhat:
So, what are they really doing: Is it just nervousness? Are these fellows always too tense and is that why they are chewing their fingernails? Is it a lack of calcium in their bodies or is it just a way to recycle calcium?
OR
Are they still in a ‘teething’ state, where they desperately need to gnaw on things, just as little pups do when they grow up?
I mean, it doesn’t have to be the nails -- it can be the cricket ball itself!
Shahid Afridi can show you how that’s best done.
Now, if gnawing the ball is called “ball tampering”, why shouldn’t the prior, be referred to as “finger tampering”? In an abstract fashion, one may ask, does it lead to any particular advantage for the team with the highest percentage of chewed up nails?
Without complicating the issue, let me address what’s more obvious:
Weren’t these guys ever taught at home not to chew on their finger nails? This, well before they were let onto the cricket field, exposed to the cameras and a world-wide audience of children. Is that what our child viewers are meant to emulate [while learning more about cricket]?
Shah Rukh Khan (the poor Bollywood Filmstar with a nicotine addiction!) was banned from smoking in public, last exposed at an IPL cricket match on 21st April, 2009, simply because the cameramen (Nimbus or Neo… whichever?!) couldn’t keep his camera pointed towards the playing field. The reason I bring up smoking is because it is almost as bad an addiction as chewing on nails (ask a psychologist!).
In a day and age of greater consciousness about ‘addictions’, we do have to be careful what we expose our societies to:
- Drug misuse & addiction (Floyd Landis, Cycling, UCI & Shoaib Akhtar)
- Sex addiction (Tiger Woods, Golf, PGA & Shane Warne)
- Nail biting addiction (LeBron Raymone James, Basketball, NBA & Harbhajan Singh)
Fact remains, nails are not just bitten during “nail biting finishes” (like the latest 1-ball win of India against South Africa in the 1-day international at Jaipur on 21st February 2010) but it is a rampant habit, an addiction that is an integral part of any cricket game on TV today. Some clinical psychologists even call it “a form of cannibalism and a sign of low self esteem”. Wikipedia states that “Onychophagia or nail biting is a common oral compulsive habit in children and adults, affecting around 30% of children between 7 to 10 years and 45% of teenagers” but what about ‘adults’ that are not teenagers anymore? That quoted, is there reason enough for yet another aspect of training/ coaching to come into play? Must India’s Cricket Coach Gary Kirsten concentrate on this aspect, too?
In the meanwhile, do watch reality unfold on TV for yourself, look out for:
- Harbhajan (Bhajji) Singh, standing at deep mid on and chewing away to glory.
- Graeme Smith, standing at first slip and chewing away, nervously.
- Daniel Vettori, biting his nails almost anywhere on the field.
- Even Virendar Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are often seen with their fingers in their mouths, whilst standing in the slip cordon.
Here’s a case in point, as to how desperate [and deplorable] this habit/ addiction can get:
I hear that our own champion, pseudo sardar ‘Bhajji ‘ (Harbhajan Singh) had at one stage chewed off so much of his finger nails that none were left to chew. So, quite desperate to chew on a nail, he was caught on camera chewing on his toe nails doing one of the flexibility exercises for his back and upper thighs in the warm-up area of a cricket stadium -- you can’t beat that!
(The picture in now unavailable for us, as it was pulled off the net by concerned authorities!)
Where are we getting to?
Are these our heroes of today… our role models?
We’re not letting anyone off the hook here… I’ll write about ‘spitting on the field’ some other day!
by Ajoy Eric Lal
When I’m watching cricket, I’m not just watching the game but also thinking about all that is subtly happening on and off the field. It’s a kind of analysis Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Harsha Bhogle wouldn’t dare undertake!
Shah Rukh Khan joins the Thank You Sachin Group.
"I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing us to breathe the same air as you do"
SRK's comment is way off. We do not breathe the same air as SRT. AK did, for the making of Lagaan. Anyways...as they say in Bollywood.
Spank and Thank Sachin! Join the Thank You Sachin Group.
Thank You Sachin History, have a look at who all sucked up
Bipasha and Shilpa Shetty kick some cricket ass!
I had an ice cream to kill, and a TV to watch. T20 rain break on. So I watch what’s on, which is Farah Khan’s show with Bips and Shilpa. Long legs, very long legs. I sit. And there’s this annoying Samsung promo on the show, with some silly sitcom.
I’m still sitting, don’t know why. Anyway, this is the deal: Bips and Shilpa gotta dub for the characters. Replay. Farah Khan suggests Shilpa be the blue sari bahenji as that’s the Rajasthan Royals colour. Ok, so a bit of cricket already.
And Bips can be the pink walli’s voice because she’s pink, whatever. What unfolds is funny, possibly because it’s cricket.
Shilpa: Please join us at Rajasthan Royals
Bips: Pay me, I want money!
Shilpa: Please join, we lost very badly this time
Bips: What about that Shane Warne fellow
Shilpa: Don’t worry about Sharukh, usko main mana loongi…
Bips: What will I tell Mahi, he’s my friend
Shilpa: Areh, that’s Chennai, where did that come from?
It went on longer, but that was a quick edit, the good parts, with a lotta leg pulling, and what legs at that.
B the moment of the match
Semifinal 2, Bangalore playing Chennai
I was watching the match at a pub owned by a Kannadiga, surrounded by redshirts who invariably see you as a Chennai supporter because you picked your phone and said "Seri naa appuram pesaren" (OK, I'll call you later, in Tamil).
If sitting at a venue where you were outnumbered 1 to 8 was worse, the abyss of the day came during over number 20 of Chennai.
Robin Uthappa finally catches one and overacts as usual, and you have a whole bunch of redshirts around you shouting "Go Robin Go".
Do they want him to go back to Coorg, leaving cricket alone ??, I wonder.
Save all these, B the moment of the match was reserved for the end of the match banter between the fans of both teams.
"What poetic justice !! Both the last placed teams of 2008 are in the finals of IPL 2, brilliant right ??"
It is not dude, please...
Don't even mention this statistics again.
I don't want a John Buchanan and Sharukh Khan to hear this and continue with their disastrous experiments.
Let Kolkata Knight Riders have a life at least the next year.
B the moment of the match
KKR playing DC
Just as when Sharukh Khan was thinking of calling his travel agent to book his ticket to South Africa, Mashrafe Mortaza decided to save some cost for the team.
A day when the adage "Every dog has its day" was coming close to reality for the KKR pack, when one saw Ajit Agarkar defy his usual self and bowl a brilliant 19th, McCullum smile on field, Kartik bowling a good spell of 4 tight overs. When one started feeling that KKR are ducking the trend to win one, Mashrafe thought otherwise.
I would ask the KKR team to may be try their luck with book cricket first. And when they do that, I would recommend that they borrow a book from Scorpicity. That seems to be the only way KKR can win one.
in defense of KKR...
players i.e.
any team that has a ‘sport's lover’ owner as srk and ‘new theory at the drop of a hat’ coach buchanan should be applauded for putting in such efforts…winning one match…and running close in many…
i don’t have any problem with their desire to get rid of ganguly if they felt that his fitness was not upto the mark, that they wanted to try out new options as the sign of natural progression…as a certain vvs laxman is discovering now…
but doing this at the price of killing their own team..?
first even before the tournament dates were announced they created chaos with multiple captain theory…then mr srk came out in the open to lash out at gavaskar only to retract later…this was done in such a manner that even the most ardent fans of kkr started wishing for the team's demise…such was the impact of negativity they spread…
if a fan from afar could feel such strong negative vibes, save a thought for the players who were involved with these ‘intellectuals’ day in day out…?
after landing in south africa they didn’t waste a day, announcing that mccullum will be the skipper of kkr and dumped the multi captaincy theory but not before the damage had already been done…
what were mccullum's credentials for which he was preferred over the captain of an international test, odi n t20 team…gayle…? other than that he scored 150 odd in the first match last season of ipl…it's as if they have rewarded him for that knock…
now mccullum is no warne and gayle is no smith…that he will take him as an undisputed leader…it's here kkr missed another chance to restore lost balance within the team…
even after handing mccullum the toughest ipl job, they have not given him any say in selection…leaving him to work with from whatever was thrown at him…
a classical case is non-selection of murtaza…as i commented elsewhere...(i think at RS' anything sporty blog…) that first buchanan did not select him coz he did not care…now murtaza is not being selected for, if he performs it will be more egg on his already mucked up face…
the contrasts of team management and coaching are blatantly visible in the sense that can you recall the names of CSK, DDD or even DC owners… and their coaches…?
aren’t they doing their job…?
i specially applaud DC’s franchise who in spite of an awful last season…had enough dignity…doing what they were supposed to do…without any fuss…without any noise…and now the results are to be seen to be believed...
that’s why i started by applauding the kkr players, that despite so much happening inside (and outside) not a single day has passed when we don't hear something or the other about kkr…the players are still finding courage to fight it out in the middle…dusting themselves and getting ready for a battle...that was lost even before this tournament started...
coz i am sure that the same set of players in the hands of better management… with a relaxed dressing room…have it in them to lock horns with best in business…
what happened when john buchanan wanted more freedom...
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 trying to sell kkr...?
well if this report is true then he is already on the job to rid himself of the knight riders...
After dropping "Kolkata" from Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders, actor Shah Rukh Khan has started discussions with Nokia, Sahara, the Anil Ambani group, and several other companies to sell the team he bought just over a year ago for Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion), and exit the business.
if 'who will be captain?' controversy courtesy john buchanan...continuously sagging stocks of kkr...infighting and rumors of a players' revolt were not enough...he has to cope with latest 'who is the fake ipl player?' of late...and the kind of ego he has...how he can possibly cope with anyone getting away with all the glory...?
so he seems to have said enough is enough...
but more than the future of kkr...i am worried for john buchannan...what will happen to him...? who will hire him...? actually i started to enjoy his 'intellectual' theories at the drop of a hat...
may be he will go back to australia and try to sell his multiple captain theory to them...going by the way punter captains them these days...and he too openly agreed with him...there still may be hope for buchanan...
what say...?
Of Gavaskar, Buchanan and buy-one-get-five schemes
Sunil Gavaskar has just stepped on another Australian toe and the hornets of the stirred nest are about to swarm him.
Apparently, he has a problem with Kolkata Knight Riders’ jumbo support staff, which threatens to outnumber the players. He said Shah Rukh Khan was being milked but the actor subsequently clarified he was no milch cow.
Gavaskar probably had an issue with the swarm of foreigners infesting the support staff bench across the IPL spectrum. The simple question is do the franchisees realize that they are actually being swindled by glib-talking foreigners?
Why is it so that when you rope in a foreigner as a coach, you need to find engagement for his pals as well? For a five-week romp, do you really need that many people around? And that too when you are dealing mostly with international stars and young aspirants for whom gym is the temple and fitness a way of living?
Buchanan had already added one of his five sons in the KKR camp and the remaining four need not lose hopes.
Make no mistake, coach's is the most exaggerated role in world cricket. In a lowly side, he probably does have a role to play. But as Shane Warne would tell you, the only coach a quality team needs is the one that takes the players from hotel to the ground and back.
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