By Mark Baber
April 5 – Whilst a football match last weekend between Bollywood AllStars and Cricket AllStars, won 4-3 by the cricketers raised money the Virat Kohli Charity Foundation, the involvement of the Bollywood superstars in popularising the game in India seems to be far more talk than action.
Actor Sunil Shetty recently said that involvement of Bollywood could make football in India sexy, but if the movie stars are to really drive the progress of the game in India then the feeling is that they need to be more active within it – like they are in the phenomenally successful Indian Premier League that has taken the cricket world by storm. Football in India is already well supported in its traditional heartland areas and many question whether it actually needs ‘lip-service’ from Bollywood.
Most closely associated with the All India Football federation has been mega-star Salman Khan who was appointed as the brand ambassador (although reportedly without a contract). He has been a low-profile ambassador and that is unlikely to change in the near future as he faces court hearings over chinkara poaching on April 27 and more importantly a 2002 fatal hit-and-run incident on April 8.
Shah Rukh Khan, was last year reportedly interested in taking a stake in Goan club Dempo but the deal never materialised, nevertheless in January he said “I will take the initiative…We are the only nation of such a size without a good football team. I would love to do it (promote football), in whatever capacity possible.”
John Abraham, who played at the weekend, is a keen football fan and in August 2010 submitted a proposal to the AIFF along with India’s retired captain Bhaichung Bhutia, who coached the Allstar team, to build an academy in Bengal, but nothing has come of that either.
Shilpa Shetty and husband Raj Kundra talked in April 2010 about their love of football and Shilpa even wanted to help launch a new national league, but that came to nothing.
Abhishek Bachchan, who captained Saturday’s Allstar team has been to Stamford Bridge, but is reportedly yet to attend an I-League or Indian national team match. He has said he “would like to do whatever I can to popularise this sport. My dream would be to see Indian team in the World Cup finals. I think we have the talent but we need to get the right infrastructure and right support.” He added: “I think the youth of India is currently tilting more towards football than cricket. Why not set a goal that by 2020 we would be a competitive football nation?”
Dino Morea, another AllStar, has attended I-League games and himself played at university level. “I want to give soccer that push to make it more popular. I am not looking at any compensation or endorsement for it. I want to offer my services to any organisation that has the potential to push football in our country,” he said.
“I hope that by the next FIFA World Cup, I’ll be asked the following question instead: ‘How do we make India a FIFA World Champion?'”
Ranbir Kapoor, a member of one of the two great Bollywood dynasties, was man-of-the-match on Saturday. He has recently become the brand ambassador for Untied Sikkim, following in the footsteps of Neha Dhupia, John Abraham and Rahul Bose, none of whom made a great impact.
But the consensus amongst Indian football fans seems to be that unless celebrities offer to put real time and money into the game, Indian football is also better off without them. But will likely to always be second best to cricket in terms of profile.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734868197labto1734868197ofdlr1734868197owedi1734868197sni@r1734868197ebab.1734868197kram1734868197
