Kolkata, the city of lakes, saw it's first ever IPL team being officially launched by none other than Bollywood Badshah - Shah Rukh Khan. Coach and captain of Kolkata team, John Buchanan and Sourav Ganguly were also present at this glamorous launch. Juhi Chawla, a very dear friend of SRK and partner in his company, Dreamz Unlimited, also graced the occasion. SRK's Red Chillies Entertainment members and staff managed to be a part of this grand event in spite of Indian Premier League's second auction in Mumbai on the same day.
'Knight Riders', is the exclusive name given to the Kolkata Team which depicts the strength of the warriors (cricketers) all geared up to battle it out on the pitch. Black and gold is used for the entire conceptual design of the team, wherein Black stands for 'Maa Kaali' (Goddess Durga) and gold portrays 'win'. The cricket kit is designed by sports gear giant Reebok. The formal clothing for the players would be carved by a designer who has dressed up all the top Bollywood heroines from Kareena Kapoor to Rani Mukherjee and is responsible behind their sensuous looks on-screen, Manish Malhotra. With such lavish expenditure on the official launch and designer clothes for the team, it screams aloud a Bollywood star cricket team's arrival.
"Twenty20 format is not just about guys who make runs but it's also about guys who stop runs", said a beaming Shah Rukh Khan, dressed in shining black tuxedo.
There were innumerous questions pouring in and most of them were addressed to one and only, the most wanted – SRK. From hockey to movie songs, Shah Rukh replied in his usual impressive style, witty yet sensible.
Though, he didn't really find interest in the same questions on him being biased for cricket. "Let's not talk about why I chose cricket and why not kabbadi, kho-kho or any other sport, I guess I am the only actor who has been in a film related to hockey."
Indian hockey's ouster from Beijing Olympics qualifiers was also one of the raised topics and Shah Rukh had his own opinion. "Let's stop playing the blame-game, at the end of the day its sports and one has to lose and the other has to win, nobody goes to the field to lose after all. We won the One-day series, that doesn't mean Australian side is bad, they'll surely bounce back."
The theme song for this enthusiastic team 'Korbo, lorbo, jitbo, re' is in Bengali language, which means 'do it, fight and win'. The song has been created by the musical duo - Vishal-Shekhar and it has been sung by Vishal. An official Knight Riders' album will be launched soon for the availability of common man. Team's lucky mascot is 'Hoog Lee'.
When asked about high-headed players like Sourav Ganguly, Shoaib Akhtar and Ricky Ponting being in his side who will be termed as 'gunda', Shah Rukh said, "The two guys - Sourav and John will be the gundas, it can't be me because I'm innocent and Sourav is already known as 'Dada', in fact the whole team will be a pack of goons."
Captain of the Knight Riders, Ganguly talked about teams' strategy. "We need to sit down with John and work it out together."
When asked about advertisements and further promotion of the team, Shah Rukh replied, "I will do the ads and let the team concentrate on cricket".
The whole concept and idea behind the launch of this glamorous event could only leave one spell bound. With such bold usage of colour schemes and the larger than life promos, it definitely gives a Bollywood touch to it.
It will be wrong to say that it was quite an unexpected way to launch an IPL team. SRK has done it again in the most fashionable style, keeping the filmy feel alive. The battle goes beyond cricket now and it will only get better when the world will witness the most stylized cricket teams ever. Wonder what's on Preity's mind now!