For the unini
tiated, King Khan bagged the Kolkata franchise of IPL a few months ago - for an estimated $75 million - under the banner of a new sports and games division created under his production company Red Chillies Entertainment. At the time, SRK’s detractors said that playing hockey in college and playing a star coach on-screen for a hockey team (Chak De India) is no claim to fame in the actual world of sports, but Shah Rukh’s keen business vision, is already proving naysayers wrong.
Sources in BCCI affirm that potential sponsors have begun knocking avidly at SRK’s doors for piggybacking his charisma on the cricket field. No surprise here, given that most of the other IPL franchises are biggies of India Inc. (a la Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya & N. Srinivasan), with their own companies & brands to support. SRK’s decision to move in for an IPL franchise has, in fact, put him in the league of these business barons who share the IPL franchise tag along with Shah Rukh.
At the recently concluded IPL auction for players in Mumbai, a blue T-shirt and jeans clad SRK turned up to full house, and sauntered off with stars like Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum, Shoaib Akhtar, Chris Gayle, David Hussey, among others in his pocket, from right under the noses of these biz biggies. Of course, although SRK had bid for Dhoni originally, in the final assessment, he gave Dhoni the miss. And rightly so, given that Dhoni went under the hammer for an eye-popping $1.5 million.
The nation’s passion for anything cricket, coupled with SRK’s deft marketing manoeuvres, his entertainment jugglery and his unbridled charisma to pull fans into the stadium, is just waiting to set the cash registers ringing for King Khan. “I expect all IPL teams to be worth $700-800 million within 5 years of operations,” avers Modi. But so confident is Modi about Shah Rukh’s ability to make a success out of his IPL foray that he candidly admits: “Of the existing franchises, I expect SRK’s Kolkata franchise to be the first to break even and recover money, and that too within the very first year of operations itself.”
The reason is not too far off the horizon: Shah Rukh’s team offers the best of both world’s to fans – Bollywood and Cricket – and no wonder marketers are clamouring to hop on to SRK’s Kolkata bandwagon. Of course, Preity Zinta, who has bagged rights for the Mohali IPL team (with Ness Wadia), trails a similar route, but her charisma pales beside Shah Rukh’s in-your face star appeal.
tiated, King Khan bagged the Kolkata franchise of IPL a few months ago - for an estimated $75 million - under the banner of a new sports and games division created under his production company Red Chillies Entertainment. At the time, SRK’s detractors said that playing hockey in college and playing a star coach on-screen for a hockey team (Chak De India) is no claim to fame in the actual world of sports, but Shah Rukh’s keen business vision, is already proving naysayers wrong.Sources in BCCI affirm that potential sponsors have begun knocking avidly at SRK’s doors for piggybacking his charisma on the cricket field. No surprise here, given that most of the other IPL franchises are biggies of India Inc. (a la Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya & N. Srinivasan), with their own companies & brands to support. SRK’s decision to move in for an IPL franchise has, in fact, put him in the league of these business barons who share the IPL franchise tag along with Shah Rukh.
At the recently concluded IPL auction for players in Mumbai, a blue T-shirt and jeans clad SRK turned up to full house, and sauntered off with stars like Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum, Shoaib Akhtar, Chris Gayle, David Hussey, among others in his pocket, from right under the noses of these biz biggies. Of course, although SRK had bid for Dhoni originally, in the final assessment, he gave Dhoni the miss. And rightly so, given that Dhoni went under the hammer for an eye-popping $1.5 million.
The nation’s passion for anything cricket, coupled with SRK’s deft marketing manoeuvres, his entertainment jugglery and his unbridled charisma to pull fans into the stadium, is just waiting to set the cash registers ringing for King Khan. “I expect all IPL teams to be worth $700-800 million within 5 years of operations,” avers Modi. But so confident is Modi about Shah Rukh’s ability to make a success out of his IPL foray that he candidly admits: “Of the existing franchises, I expect SRK’s Kolkata franchise to be the first to break even and recover money, and that too within the very first year of operations itself.”
The reason is not too far off the horizon: Shah Rukh’s team offers the best of both world’s to fans – Bollywood and Cricket – and no wonder marketers are clamouring to hop on to SRK’s Kolkata bandwagon. Of course, Preity Zinta, who has bagged rights for the Mohali IPL team (with Ness Wadia), trails a similar route, but her charisma pales beside Shah Rukh’s in-your face star appeal.
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