Its time for ‘Cricketainment’……

Serious cricket got over with India winning the historic Cricket World Cup after 28 years. Now its time for  ‘CRICKETAINMENT’. What is ‘CRICKETAINMENT’? Where glamour and cricket meets with only purpose of providing entertainment is called ‘CRICKETAINMENT’. Once again IPL bazaar will kick off from tomorrow and this time it is much bigger and better. 2 new teams added to the existing 8 teams and these 10 teams will provide entertainment for next 51 days by playing 73 matches. With these teams glamour of their owners also attached and that will make IPL more glamorous and entertaining.

It is official meeting of Bollywood and Cricket. KKR is owned by Shahrukh Khan, Rajasthan Royals co-owner is Shilpa Shetty, Kings XI Punjab co-owner is Priety Zinta, Deepika Padukone is brand ambassador of RCB. Slaman Khan is likely to join Kochi Tuskers as brand ambassador. So its all stars who will be on display in pavilion and ground during IPL matches. IPL has given these stars to make extra bucks apart from their movies. Every team owner will bring platoon of cine stars alongwith him during the IPL matches just to add the spice and these platoon of stars will provide entertainment to the masses who will be watching them on TV or on ground. Its  cricket mixed with entertainment for next 51 days.It has all the makings of a Blockbuster Bollywood movie. Prior to this players were bought and sold like cattle. Bollywood stars are geared up for “song and dance” at various points during the matches. Cheer leaders have been imported from across the world. Advertising is at its peak. The teams have uniforms, logos, anthems and what not. TRP ratings of the official channel will touch new heights during IPL games and news channels will get more masala to run their 24 hour channels. No wonder if we see more cricket masala and less news in next 51 days.

One man who will be missed from this entire event is Mr. Lalit Modi, founder and brain behind the IPL. He was present in last 3 additions but BCCI threw him out from the IPL on the account of financial irregularities. Mr. Lalit Modi was very close to many franchisees and he is the one who is solely responsible for the grand success of IPL but to his misfortune he will miss this year’s IPL. If IPL is among TOP 10 sporting brand in the world today, all credit goes to Mr. Lalit Modi. IPL is conceptualise completely on the basis of American Football and Baseball which are very popular sports in USA and Lalit Modi used all the ingredients of American sports in IPL. Only cricket has replaced football and baseball rest of the drama is same because cricket is very popular sport in India and it has become more popular after India’s World Cup victory.

Cricket’s love affair with Bollywood is not new. Tiger Pataudi-Sharmila Tagore, Mohammed Azharuddin-Sangeeta Bijlani, Mohsin Khan-Reena Roy, Sandeep Patil, Salil Ankola and Syed Kirmani’s foray into acting are just a few examples. Even the great Sunil Gavaskar known for great restraint and concentration on the cricket field succumbed to the glamor of Bollywood and had to try his hand at films. More recently Shoaib Akthar was in the news for considering Bollywood offers. With the launch of the IPL, movie stars and cricketers frequently share the stage whether it is Yuvraj and his Bollywood girl friends or Sreesanth and his dance moves. So the Cricket-Bollywood links are here to stay and be strengthened.

As the time progressed Bollywood understood the importance of cricket and now they are using cricket as a promotional tool for promoting their movies also. Recently during the Cricket World Cup Shahrukh Khan launched the promo of his upcoming movie ‘RA-ONE’. During the World Cup most of the cine stars seen promoting their upcoming movies and it will continue in IPL as well. Even promos of IPL are also very interesting and entertaining.

So fasten your seat belts and get ready to take off in IPL plane for next 51 days. Ticket pricing is one of the concern in this year’s IPL as it is too costly for the common public because it starts from Rs. 500/- and goes upto almost Rs.60000/-. Although people who have the money will go and watch the matches in Stadium.   Those who can’t afford the tickets will watch the entertainment at home on TV. IPL is like Bollywood movie and everyday new movie will release for next 51 days. According to the IPL broadcasting channel, its ‘Bharat Bandh’ for next 51 days due to IPL 4.

Finally, in India nothing is more popular than cricket and cinema. When it comes together, it creates history.