ALL STAR, LI’L SHINE
Heavy rain and goof-ups galore made the celebritystudded IPL kick-off a rather lacklustre affair
No Indian spectacle gets bigger than Bollywood and cricket stars coming together for a gala ceremony, but the opening of the Indian Premier League in Kolkata on April 7 turned out to be a damp squib this time.
The show began an hour-and-a-half late as it was marred by rain, but eager fans weathered the storm and stuck on to catch a glimpse of the stars. The host of the event, actor Saif Ali Khan, seemed somewhat off the mark when he called for nine team captains to come on stage, instead of the participating eight. Adding to the confusion was Rohit Sharma’s appearance when Saif called out Shikhar Dhawan’s name. Social media was quick to slam the goof-up. “Saif Ali
khan made this humshakals stage play !!! Ruined the name game (sic),” wrote @rakthik, while another tweet by @debapriyo_tweet read, “First rain ruined it and then Saif. Just Worst ever hosting by Saif (sic)”.
Next up was actor Shahid Kapoor, who hit the ramp riding a bike and slipped on stage before recovering quickly and giving a power-packed performance to his popular film songs, ‘Gandi baat’ and ‘Dhating naach’. “Banged the bike broke the stage. Felt the love. Amaze (sic),” he tweeted.
Actor Anushka Sharma’s performance brought smiles to many faces, including that of her cricketer boyfriend, Virat Kohli, as she grooved to her hit numbers such as ‘Jiya re’ and ‘Chaar kadam’. Farhan Akhtar came up next, performing tracks from Rock On!! (2008) with his band. Fittingly, Hrithik Roshan closed the show, dancing to some of his older hits.