Finally BCCI wakes up..

I just read this news in Indiafm website about BCCI not taking SRK’s appearance for cricket matches in ‘the right sense’. SRK is obviously upset on this comment, but I don't see anything wrong on BCCI's part. Instead I feel they are finally waking up.
This is what they had to say -

" The senior Cricket board officials commented that stars are using cricket matches to promote films. Ratnakar Shetty mentioned that use of the platform of cricket for promoting films by celebrities is "slightly debatable" in the wake of SRK's latest film, Om Shanti Om as it came up for discussion during a chat with TV commentator, Rameez Raja at the recent Jaipur ODI cricket match between India and Pakistan. "

However SRK added that he went to watch the match as a sports lover and that he does not have to depend on other's platforms to push his films. It is because his children are fans of Sachin, Dhoni, and Sourav. Meanwhile BCCI Vice President, Rajiv Shukla said that the Board has no objection to SRK or any other celebrity coming to watch the matches.

We've been seeing Khan off late appearing in matches involving the Indian team. He was there to cheer the team in the final of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and then again at the Twenty20 match against Australia in Mumbai, where Deepika Padukone ( coincidence ??? ), his co-star in his recent movie Om Shanti Om, was also present. He was also seen wearing a T-shirt which read "Om Shanti Om". He was then seen at the last ODI against Pakistan in Jaipur and talked about his new movie ( obviously) in the commentary box. He wanted to see the Kanpur ODI as well, but the local authorities vetoed the move saying it would be difficult for them to arrange for security and control the crowd.

I read in many other websites that The Star is being considered a lucky mascot for the Indian cricket team. When did that happen ? After India winning Twenty20 ? What happened to the match at Jaipur where India didn't do the victory dance as our 'Men in Blue' lost to the 'Men In Green', Pakistan, by 31 runs ?

I had earlier written an article on this issue in my blog, and did mention that movies shouldn't get into sports.

Click here for my article on this - Cricket and Movies stars

I don't want to see Shahrukh in a sports column of any paper. C'mon.. We go to stadium to watch Cricket, not stars. Its our country playing. I don't wanna hear about OSO in a cricket match. If its about SRK trying to publicize his movie why not do it in an AIDS event, or may be in a no drinking, no smoking event ? Or for that matter in a Ranji Trophy which nobody watches. At least that part of cricket gets publicized.

SRK is a big big star in India. He has the capacity to pull crowds to anyplace he wants. Then why not involve people in places they generally ignore. At least he would do some good to the country instead of doing good to himself.

On the contrary, its also possible that this whole thing is a publicity stunt by Ratnakar Shetty himself. Now then thats a whole different issue. Anything is possible in this publicity and media crazy world.

Movie Stars and Cricket..whats up with that ??

Lately we've been seeing ample coverage of movie stars in cricket matches. Whats up with that ?? Do they really love cricket so much ? Or is it for some other reason unknown to us? Some hardcore fans would be excited to see their stars in stadium. Of course they have a reason to be. I mean how often do stars come out in public, and how often fans get to see them in person.

Tamil star Vikram stays very close to my house in Chennai. Whenever my brother sees him going to gym, he becomes so overjoyed that for one whole day he keeps talking about him. Now imagine every person in stadium getting a glimpse of their favorite star. Why just in stadium ? Imagine everyone watching TV getting a glimpse of their star. How about some more...Imagine every paper, every website, including my own blogpost, writing about them...hmmm I see something common in all these...and it sounds to me like a huge.... "Publicity". Ok...now how sure am I on this...am I just being harsh here. They might really love cricket so much that they want to watch it with people. The question is Do they really do ?? I wanna talk about 3 incidents for now, else this post would be never ending.

Shahrukh Khan in SouthAfrica for Twenty20 worldcup :
This act certainly caught everyone's attention. Not only Indians, but even South-African's or for that matter every other country where SRK is famous. Can he get better publicity than this ? I don't think so..but why does he need this publicity at this hour....ohhhhhh his new movie is going to release next month, Om Shanti Om. Fair enough. SRK is known to appear in as many channels and papers as possible, before his movie releases, which also happens to be his home production.

Ram Charan Teja with Chiranjeevi at Ind-Aus match in Hyderabad :
Chiranjeevi ( Annayya for all, meaning big brother ) is the most admired person in Andhra. I don't know if there can be anyone like him in the future. He's like what Rajini is for Tamil Nadu, or Amitabh is for Hindi movies. Recently his son, Ram Charan Teja, was launched in his first ever movie Chirutha. I heard it was a pretty good first movie for him. But whats the norm after launching a new comer in industry ? More public appearances to garner fan following. And its quite natural to expect the respected father to make all his fans support his son. Thats what Amitabh did for Abhishek. And what better place to get attention...well ofcourse you guessed it right...Cricket match. Having said that, I adore Chiranjeevi and wish all the best for Teja's success.

Athidi Poster in Ind-Aus match again in Hyderabad :
Now whats this Mahesh Babu starrer, Athidi movie poster doing in cricket match ?? Ok I come to understand that its the most awaited telugu movie, but whats it got to do with cricket match? If you click on the picture you'll see how much space this cutout has occupied. What bothers me is that there are hundreds of cricket fans standing outside the stadium, unable to get tickets as they are all sold out, and this huge cutout is taking up 5-6 rows of seating space.

At the end of the day, If I look back at these events, I feel its a win-win situation for everyone. The celebrities get what they want, the stadium owners get their pockets full and the crowd and media get what they want. So who's complaining ?? I guess just a very few section of junta like me who follow the rule " Seeing is not Believing ". I see Jack Nicholson in every Lakers match. He sometimes travels to where all the team goes to play. Media doesnt cover him and he doesnt do it for any other reason other than the "Love" for the game. If all of our celebrities who appear in matches do it for the Love of the game, its good. My only request is please don't utilize cricket matches for selfish reasons. Its not entertainment industry for god's sake. Our country is playing with another country. Don't spoil the game's spirit.