PLAYING THE FIELD

A hundred years after it was the scene of a large Indian drama, Mahatma Gandhi’s episodes need no retelling, South Africa is playing host to another large Indian drama, in happier and lighter circumstances. Ladies and gentlemen, switch on your TV sets. The first episodes of Series 2 of the great Indian cricket carnival, the Indian Premier League, is unfolding.

 

Indeed, South Africa is the new Kashmir. Locales have changed, and ever since Yash Raj replaced the chinars with the firs, and the rajnigandha with the tulips, Indian entertainment has sought, and claimed, many exotic locales. So, how can the IPL be far behind? With many circumstances, (security and politics being two major ones), hovering in the background, it has taken a stupendous effort to move the entire set to another country. If the first few days are anything to go by, it seems to be a resounding box office hit.

 

Commercialization has been taken to a new level. And the stars are getting even more involved. SRK is there in all his pomp and splendor. He is part of the active management of a cricket team and runs it in the same professional, objective manner that he approaches his film career. No-nonsense, finding solutions. He’s true CEO material, SRK, bully for him. Shilpa Shetty takes ownership, as gracefully as ever, and lights up the Newlands ground with her 1000-watt smile. Team owners have never looked prettier. Preity celebrates with her team when they do well and shares their sorrow when they lose. She’s one of them. Her expressions portray the emotions of a state.

The efforts to educate young South Africans resonate in every heart among the Protease. Well deserved. And for those not as philanthropically inclined, there are eyeballs gawking as the cameras zoom in on pretty South African women, to identify one winner who would fly (first class) to Mumbai to act in a Bollywood Song.

 

I cringe at the branding and I cringe at the thought but I smile at the effort. It doesn’t matter that some of the participants seem to have been taught names of Bollywood Songs minutes before they go on air. It matters less that they (and the commentator) think that Shakoor Khan is the name of one of India’s biggest stars. What matters is that “Shakoor” and Shilpa and Preity and a host of others are watching. And we are watching them.

The IPL has its detractors. It has its share of opposition. There are those who have objected to it being staged in another land. Why pray, they swear, is it then called the Indian Premier League? To them, we say, dream merchants are never restricted by location. We don’t have the saris, we have cheerleaders and we have commercialization never seen before. But, as ‘Shakoor” has said in a “Bollywood” film, “Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani.”

As a tribute to his unflagging spirit and zeal, we have SRK as our cover boy too. Catch him in action and he spins the googlies and unfurls the magic yet again.

 

Go burn.