Cinema meets cricket: Filmstars live the cricket dream in Celebrity Cricket League
It's Wednesday. The MCA indoor stadium in Bandra Kurla complex, Mumbai, echoes with the ball hitting the sweet part of the bat. Suniel Shetty smiles, satisfied. The Bollywood action hero and restaurateur always wanted to be cricketer. Now, at 53, he is busy practising to hit the ball as efficiently he bashes up goons in the movies.
Growing up, Riteish Deshmukh and Mohanlal restricted their dreams of playing cricket to their college and locality but their seriousness has only increased over the years.
Riteish, having formed his own team Veer Marathi this season, has been a regular every evening at Kalina sports complex near Santacruz, trying to hone his batting skills, wearing moulded pads his brother gifted him when he went to England four years back. Mohanlal has just cut short a family holiday in Spain and fought off jet lag to land straight at afternoon practice where he challenged the speed gun in searing afternoon. Telugu superstar Venkatesh, a left-hand batsman and medium-pacer who played for Loyala College Chennai along with Kris Srikkanth but left playing cricket thereafter, has been busy studying videos of opponents and analyzing them and revisiting his younger days by hitting practice towards evening after winding up his busy shooting schedule. A regular at watching all Ranji, Duleep and Team India games since the age of 7, Venkatesh has been passing on the tips he's shared with Team India cricketers over the years at practice sessions. But they all just happen to be some of the many examples, preparing for a competitive month of playing cricket.
When cricket meets entertainment, it's IPL but when entertainment meets cricket, it's CCL. For the last one month, actors have opted out of films, suspended shooting schedules and been busy practising cricket at the nets to prepare for the Celebrity Cricket League. Now into its third year, the CCL has seen amazing interest amongst the film fraternity and is now rivaling the IPL on TRP ratings.
According to television ratings, the CCL 3 has seen phenomenal rating of 11 on Asianet, which has been showing Kochi matches while all other regional channels have shown ratings of 4.5 on an average. In comparison, IPL V last season had a viewership of just 3.9. Seeing this trend, the sponsors too have come in bunches towards the CCL. Kalyan Jewellers has signed a title sponsorship worth Rs.21 crore over three years while 11 other sponsors have come on board, bringing in approximately Rs.24 crores per year. Star Group has brought the television rights for $12m for the next three years and the winning prize money is $1m.
Cricketers too haven't ignored the rise of CCL, and after the second Test between India and Australia ended a day early in Hyderabad, Sachin Tendulkar invited the Telugu Warriors team for dinner and a chat. The actors' skills levels might be low but they show great commitment to compete and win. Needless to add: at all costs. During last year's finals, Karnataka team players complained of being sledged by Chennai Rhinos team owned by K Ganga Prasad, who won the title for the second straight time and even accused them of unfair play when Tamil lead actor Jiiva 'Mankaded' one of their players in a thrilling final.
The spectators too seem to have lapped it up. Over 60,000 people watched the Kerala-Mumbai match at Kochi this season. Star Group is beaming the matches live in eight languages in nine different channels - Star Plus, Star Gold, Asianet, Suvarna, Star Vijay, Anjan, Star Pravah, Zee Telugu and Jalsa Movies. So what is it about CCL that makes both spectators and film stars go all the way? It seems like tickling the unfulfilled ambitions of India's superstars, and their crazy cricket stories besides bringing together the entire industry.
Flight of fantasy
"I wanted to be a cricketer, I played for under-14, under-16 but couldn't go much higher. I believe it was because of politics but I wanted to play for Mumbai, my karmbhoomi. Now I am playing for Mumbai Heroes, and I am very happy. I don't know how good I were when I was 20 or 21 but even now I try and be as competitive as possible. At this age I am fit enough to go stunts in movies but being athletic is very different," says Sunil Shetty. "Actor or cricketer, there is always a child inside us, there are always certain unfulfilled ambitions. CCL is helping people like us to fulfil those desires. But it's very competitive. I can see cricketers being turned into actors rather than the other way around. Some boys here can bowl at 130kmph and hit long sixes," he says.
"Ladki worked very well, they all realised how important it was to bring in discipline when they treated five minutes of getting late as ignorance. It helped in giving them examples of Rahul Dravid and Shane Warne, they could relate to them, understand how they dealt with pressure and it gives them confidence that they too are like them and can win," says Desai.
The 3D effect - Discipline, dedication and determination
The actors all seem to show exemplary discipline when it comes to cricket. Bhojpuri Dabanggs, the team which made its entry into the CCL this season, have all decided that all the actors to enrol themselves as members of Venus sports Academy - their training base in Mumbai for regular net sessions. The Bhojpuri and Telugu industry has been on partial shutdown for almost a month because of CCL practice.
mumbai Heroes team has been on stringent practice drills for the last one month at the MCA indoor stadium in Bandra Kurla Complex. As actors, they are more attuned to lifting weights and hence they are high on protein diets but they have changed their exercise regime and eating habits, even turning vegetarian for the period to get more flexible and light on the field. Forty eight hours before the game, the MH team is on a strict alcohol ban.
Mumbai Heroes' Sameer Kochhar, who has hosted IPL shows on television and became a household name with the serial Bade Acche Lagte Hain on Sony, is amongst one of the few "bad boys" of the team who sneaks out to smoke a cigarette after practice. "I haven't seen such exemplary discipline, everyone is bang on time, not a minute late for practice and we have only spoken about cricket. Every actor lives and dies every Friday, but trust me, we haven't spoken anything about films, new releases. I mean there's no senior or junior here, people like Bobby Deol or Suniel Shetty comes and offer you water after practice, there are no star tantrums here. We are expected to show decorum, tuck our t-shirts in and come in uniform for practice," says Kocchar.
The Karnataka bulldozers team, led by superstar Sudeep of Eega fame and mentored by former Indian batsman Gundappa Vishwanath, has made it mandatory for all players in their squad to assemble three days before the weekend games and stay together for team bonding. Karnataka team is hoping to get third time lucky after losing to Chennai on both occasions.
Mind game
The Kerala Strikers team on the other hand is focussing more on the mental aspects of the game, practising meditation and mental simulation under renowned psychologist Vipin Roldant, who has worked with clubs like Real Madrid FC and KKR.
For the time leading up to the tournament, the team has been busy practising in the afternoons and doing meditation towards the evening. As per their mental conditioning programme, the players were expected to dream about the final in Hyderabad and winning the title, and were told to express their emotions and celebrate their heart out after winning the game. The team, which is on a roll this season, has had plenty of moments to show their expressions on the field.
The CCL is now heading towards its climax over the weekend in Hyderabad and Bangalore, and teams have their strategies in place. Teams are already preparing for the next season with elaborate net session and coaching plans round the year and it seems like CCL is gearing up to become serious business, for players, coaches and investors alike.
Growing up, Riteish Deshmukh and Mohanlal restricted their dreams of playing cricket to their college and locality but their seriousness has only increased over the years.
Riteish, having formed his own team Veer Marathi this season, has been a regular every evening at Kalina sports complex near Santacruz, trying to hone his batting skills, wearing moulded pads his brother gifted him when he went to England four years back. Mohanlal has just cut short a family holiday in Spain and fought off jet lag to land straight at afternoon practice where he challenged the speed gun in searing afternoon. Telugu superstar Venkatesh, a left-hand batsman and medium-pacer who played for Loyala College Chennai along with Kris Srikkanth but left playing cricket thereafter, has been busy studying videos of opponents and analyzing them and revisiting his younger days by hitting practice towards evening after winding up his busy shooting schedule. A regular at watching all Ranji, Duleep and Team India games since the age of 7, Venkatesh has been passing on the tips he's shared with Team India cricketers over the years at practice sessions. But they all just happen to be some of the many examples, preparing for a competitive month of playing cricket.
When cricket meets entertainment, it's IPL but when entertainment meets cricket, it's CCL. For the last one month, actors have opted out of films, suspended shooting schedules and been busy practising cricket at the nets to prepare for the Celebrity Cricket League. Now into its third year, the CCL has seen amazing interest amongst the film fraternity and is now rivaling the IPL on TRP ratings.
According to television ratings, the CCL 3 has seen phenomenal rating of 11 on Asianet, which has been showing Kochi matches while all other regional channels have shown ratings of 4.5 on an average. In comparison, IPL V last season had a viewership of just 3.9. Seeing this trend, the sponsors too have come in bunches towards the CCL. Kalyan Jewellers has signed a title sponsorship worth Rs.21 crore over three years while 11 other sponsors have come on board, bringing in approximately Rs.24 crores per year. Star Group has brought the television rights for $12m for the next three years and the winning prize money is $1m.
Cricketers too haven't ignored the rise of CCL, and after the second Test between India and Australia ended a day early in Hyderabad, Sachin Tendulkar invited the Telugu Warriors team for dinner and a chat. The actors' skills levels might be low but they show great commitment to compete and win. Needless to add: at all costs. During last year's finals, Karnataka team players complained of being sledged by Chennai Rhinos team owned by K Ganga Prasad, who won the title for the second straight time and even accused them of unfair play when Tamil lead actor Jiiva 'Mankaded' one of their players in a thrilling final.
The spectators too seem to have lapped it up. Over 60,000 people watched the Kerala-Mumbai match at Kochi this season. Star Group is beaming the matches live in eight languages in nine different channels - Star Plus, Star Gold, Asianet, Suvarna, Star Vijay, Anjan, Star Pravah, Zee Telugu and Jalsa Movies. So what is it about CCL that makes both spectators and film stars go all the way? It seems like tickling the unfulfilled ambitions of India's superstars, and their crazy cricket stories besides bringing together the entire industry.
Flight of fantasy
"I wanted to be a cricketer, I played for under-14, under-16 but couldn't go much higher. I believe it was because of politics but I wanted to play for Mumbai, my karmbhoomi. Now I am playing for Mumbai Heroes, and I am very happy. I don't know how good I were when I was 20 or 21 but even now I try and be as competitive as possible. At this age I am fit enough to go stunts in movies but being athletic is very different," says Sunil Shetty. "Actor or cricketer, there is always a child inside us, there are always certain unfulfilled ambitions. CCL is helping people like us to fulfil those desires. But it's very competitive. I can see cricketers being turned into actors rather than the other way around. Some boys here can bowl at 130kmph and hit long sixes," he says.
Venkatesh too agrees with Shetty. "when it comes to the game, the wining mentality seems to increasing season to season, and we can see teams being over tense about winning. We should enjoy the game and look at it as an opportunity to bond with other actors. That's what I tell my team, play well, enjoy the game," he says.
Mumbai, for example, has a thumb rule for CCL. Out of every playing XI, five players should have appeared in 10 films or more. Three players should have acted in atleast one movie while the other three should have had at least ten minutes of role in a film to qualify.
Aakash Chopra, former Indian opener, who is commentating in the CCL, says some of the players' skill levels are very high. Kerala's Sumesh is one such example. He was an aspiring cricketer, who accidentally became an actor and played the villain in movie Nakhangal, and is making his bollywood debut in the movie Rangrez, directed by Priyadarshan. Sumesh has now got the label of Chris Gayle kuttappan - thanks to his batting style and ability to hit sixes.
"CCL is like world Cup for the film industry," says Siddharth Jaddav, famous Marathi actor. Bhojpuri superstar Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua of Big Boss fame says "Apart from the fact that it helps us propagate Bhojpuri industry on national scale, it's like living a dream. We all dream of playing in the same stadiums like these cricketers, and CCL helps us do that," he says.
Riteish says there's always a cricketer inside all of us. "I mean everyone in this country has played cricket growing up. For me, my cricket was just as good as playing in the playground. Some take it up professionally, some don't. For actors, CCL has given a good platform to show their skills. We all are very serious to win, we have been practicing hard for three months, everyone who has made it into the team has some level of skills, so we would like to play hard and play fair," he says.
Vishu Vardhan Induri, MD and founder of CCL, says "like film releases, they all know that CCL will held every February-March, so they plan everything accordingly. It was difficult to bring together the entire industry under one roof and initially we suffered losses but we never wanted to cut corners and decided to maintain same broadcasting standards. Slowly, the competitiveness of the game helped it bring in masses."
The Body-on-the-line series
Aijaz Ashai, who has worked with players like Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir is kept busy testing the effectiveness of his blue, brown, pink and white colour bandages in his medical kit - all of which have unique soothing and healing properties. The Mumbai Heroes physio, referred to as 'Doc' by everyone, have been extremely busy tendering to all the injuries the team has had during the season, but looking all around players haven't flinched to put their body on the line for the sake of their team.
Sonu Sood is a major example, after being airlifted from Dubai to Mumbai for a surgery after breaking three bones his right leg. The surgery will keep Sonu out for at least two months, and has opted out of big banner films like Zanjeer. Shetty himself is battling pain from a dislocated right little finger which is preventing him from holding the bat properly and hurts particularly when he tries to field.
The scene at the Kalina sports ground in Santacruz, which is the training base for Veer Marathi is not too different. Their skipper Riteish Deshmukh is struggling with a hamstring strain and is batting with a runner. At the side of the nets, Marathi hero Ankush Chaudhary, who has acted in several films like Bluffmaster (Marathi), Ringa Ringa, Checkmate is asking team mates to supervise his bowling, whether he's been able to hit the right line and length. Ankush fractured his thumb during one of their league games but is keen to play and is trying to convince his team management of his selection despite injury. Bhojpuri filmworld superstar Manoj Tiwari, 42, who is also the owner and skipper of the Bhojpuri Dabanggs team, had to be rushed to the hospital after injuring his left hand during the game and was later confirmed to be a fracture, but he continues to play.
The Barbie-doll story
Remember Pinki the Doll? The soft toy which made national headlines after it was 'inducted' to the Rajasthan Royals team by Shane Warne for keeping his boys in discipline. Well, her Marathi cousin, Ladki has been grabbing eyeballs in the Veer Marathi team. Coached by Monty Desai, who coaches Rajasthan Royals in the IPL as well, the CCL team has stuck with the same rules - the person reporting late for practice or flouting team rules are expected to publicly carry the doll with them wherever they go.
Mumbai, for example, has a thumb rule for CCL. Out of every playing XI, five players should have appeared in 10 films or more. Three players should have acted in atleast one movie while the other three should have had at least ten minutes of role in a film to qualify.
Aakash Chopra, former Indian opener, who is commentating in the CCL, says some of the players' skill levels are very high. Kerala's Sumesh is one such example. He was an aspiring cricketer, who accidentally became an actor and played the villain in movie Nakhangal, and is making his bollywood debut in the movie Rangrez, directed by Priyadarshan. Sumesh has now got the label of Chris Gayle kuttappan - thanks to his batting style and ability to hit sixes.
"CCL is like world Cup for the film industry," says Siddharth Jaddav, famous Marathi actor. Bhojpuri superstar Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua of Big Boss fame says "Apart from the fact that it helps us propagate Bhojpuri industry on national scale, it's like living a dream. We all dream of playing in the same stadiums like these cricketers, and CCL helps us do that," he says.
Riteish says there's always a cricketer inside all of us. "I mean everyone in this country has played cricket growing up. For me, my cricket was just as good as playing in the playground. Some take it up professionally, some don't. For actors, CCL has given a good platform to show their skills. We all are very serious to win, we have been practicing hard for three months, everyone who has made it into the team has some level of skills, so we would like to play hard and play fair," he says.
Vishu Vardhan Induri, MD and founder of CCL, says "like film releases, they all know that CCL will held every February-March, so they plan everything accordingly. It was difficult to bring together the entire industry under one roof and initially we suffered losses but we never wanted to cut corners and decided to maintain same broadcasting standards. Slowly, the competitiveness of the game helped it bring in masses."
The Body-on-the-line series
Aijaz Ashai, who has worked with players like Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir is kept busy testing the effectiveness of his blue, brown, pink and white colour bandages in his medical kit - all of which have unique soothing and healing properties. The Mumbai Heroes physio, referred to as 'Doc' by everyone, have been extremely busy tendering to all the injuries the team has had during the season, but looking all around players haven't flinched to put their body on the line for the sake of their team.
Sonu Sood is a major example, after being airlifted from Dubai to Mumbai for a surgery after breaking three bones his right leg. The surgery will keep Sonu out for at least two months, and has opted out of big banner films like Zanjeer. Shetty himself is battling pain from a dislocated right little finger which is preventing him from holding the bat properly and hurts particularly when he tries to field.
The scene at the Kalina sports ground in Santacruz, which is the training base for Veer Marathi is not too different. Their skipper Riteish Deshmukh is struggling with a hamstring strain and is batting with a runner. At the side of the nets, Marathi hero Ankush Chaudhary, who has acted in several films like Bluffmaster (Marathi), Ringa Ringa, Checkmate is asking team mates to supervise his bowling, whether he's been able to hit the right line and length. Ankush fractured his thumb during one of their league games but is keen to play and is trying to convince his team management of his selection despite injury. Bhojpuri filmworld superstar Manoj Tiwari, 42, who is also the owner and skipper of the Bhojpuri Dabanggs team, had to be rushed to the hospital after injuring his left hand during the game and was later confirmed to be a fracture, but he continues to play.
The Barbie-doll story
Remember Pinki the Doll? The soft toy which made national headlines after it was 'inducted' to the Rajasthan Royals team by Shane Warne for keeping his boys in discipline. Well, her Marathi cousin, Ladki has been grabbing eyeballs in the Veer Marathi team. Coached by Monty Desai, who coaches Rajasthan Royals in the IPL as well, the CCL team has stuck with the same rules - the person reporting late for practice or flouting team rules are expected to publicly carry the doll with them wherever they go.
"Ladki worked very well, they all realised how important it was to bring in discipline when they treated five minutes of getting late as ignorance. It helped in giving them examples of Rahul Dravid and Shane Warne, they could relate to them, understand how they dealt with pressure and it gives them confidence that they too are like them and can win," says Desai.
The 3D effect - Discipline, dedication and determination
The actors all seem to show exemplary discipline when it comes to cricket. Bhojpuri Dabanggs, the team which made its entry into the CCL this season, have all decided that all the actors to enrol themselves as members of Venus sports Academy - their training base in Mumbai for regular net sessions. The Bhojpuri and Telugu industry has been on partial shutdown for almost a month because of CCL practice.
mumbai Heroes team has been on stringent practice drills for the last one month at the MCA indoor stadium in Bandra Kurla Complex. As actors, they are more attuned to lifting weights and hence they are high on protein diets but they have changed their exercise regime and eating habits, even turning vegetarian for the period to get more flexible and light on the field. Forty eight hours before the game, the MH team is on a strict alcohol ban.
Mumbai Heroes' Sameer Kochhar, who has hosted IPL shows on television and became a household name with the serial Bade Acche Lagte Hain on Sony, is amongst one of the few "bad boys" of the team who sneaks out to smoke a cigarette after practice. "I haven't seen such exemplary discipline, everyone is bang on time, not a minute late for practice and we have only spoken about cricket. Every actor lives and dies every Friday, but trust me, we haven't spoken anything about films, new releases. I mean there's no senior or junior here, people like Bobby Deol or Suniel Shetty comes and offer you water after practice, there are no star tantrums here. We are expected to show decorum, tuck our t-shirts in and come in uniform for practice," says Kocchar.
The Karnataka bulldozers team, led by superstar Sudeep of Eega fame and mentored by former Indian batsman Gundappa Vishwanath, has made it mandatory for all players in their squad to assemble three days before the weekend games and stay together for team bonding. Karnataka team is hoping to get third time lucky after losing to Chennai on both occasions.
Mind game
The Kerala Strikers team on the other hand is focussing more on the mental aspects of the game, practising meditation and mental simulation under renowned psychologist Vipin Roldant, who has worked with clubs like Real Madrid FC and KKR.
For the time leading up to the tournament, the team has been busy practising in the afternoons and doing meditation towards the evening. As per their mental conditioning programme, the players were expected to dream about the final in Hyderabad and winning the title, and were told to express their emotions and celebrate their heart out after winning the game. The team, which is on a roll this season, has had plenty of moments to show their expressions on the field.
The CCL is now heading towards its climax over the weekend in Hyderabad and Bangalore, and teams have their strategies in place. Teams are already preparing for the next season with elaborate net session and coaching plans round the year and it seems like CCL is gearing up to become serious business, for players, coaches and investors alike.
nice tollywood and bollywood gathering
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