Chuck de Shah Rukh

Bollywood’s biggest star finds out how horrible sport can be when it doesn’t go according to the script.

This is when Shah Rukh Khan may be wishing that things followed a script, preferably one written by his buddies from the Johar-Chopra fraternity.

How could this happen? This pesky game called cricket does not appreciate that he has put in all the vital ingredients of success in his Kolkata Knight Riders. From the first season, it was a true-blue multi-starrer. Kolkata was a prime franchisee for the Indian Premier League, as it houses the one cricket stadium in India that has an aura of its own, and has the most frenzied fans.

In Sourav Ganguly, Shah Rukh got the most charismatic and successful captain in the history of Indian cricket. In John Buchanan, he has the coach with the best CV in the business, propped up with a support staff that quickly grew from six to 10, including fielding, bowling and wicketkeeping coaches, in addition to a chief coach, Matthew Mott.

McCullum and Gayle are two of the most destructive batsmen in the world, Ishant the best fast bowling prospect to emerge in India since Javagal Srinath. This year, KKR also got Ajantha Mendis, often spoken of as a phenomenon.

Then there was the entire star power working overtime, with Shah Rukh seeking a connection with Kolkata by reading out a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, the city’s ultimate hero, at Eden Gardens. He also spent time bonding with the players, and sent them inspirational text messages. In a tournament that feeds off glitter, KKR shone the brightest.

Yet, it is going horribly wrong. The team finished sixth out of eight franchisees in the first season and this year is perhaps the only one with no hope of making the semi-finals. The need for inspirational text messages is now more than ever, but some writers suggest that, with every defeat, they have come to be seen as more preachy than inspirational. The only buzz around the team has been due to the a blogger who calls himself Fake IPL Player and is ostensibly a part of KKR; his blogs talk a lot about life in the KKR camp.

Now would be the time to bring in Jaideep Sahni (Chak De India) for a dramatic turnaround or Farah Khan (Om Shanti Om) for a re-birth. But unfortunately sport is different from film. There is an awful lot that franchisee owners, image managers, communication experts and strategy advisors can do before the ball comes into play, precious little after that. That is why audiences turn up for match after match while a film, once watched, brings back only a few for repeat viewing. Which is just as well, otherwise you would have to script a new game for every Friday release.