Kapil comes to Shahrukh's rescue

By: Raymond Ronamai
Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials irked Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan by commenting that he was promoting his recent release Om Shanti Om through cricket. This controversy started after he talked about his film on question asked by commentator Rameez Raja during the recent Indian Oil Cup final match between Indian and Pakistan at Jaipur. Disappointed King Khan resorted back at the comments of the BCCI officials, saying that he would not watch any cricket match involving India in the future.

Now, former Indian captain Kapil Dev has come forward to defend Shahrukh, saying that celebrities' association would popularise the game rather than taking away the attention. He said that Shahrukh came to watch the match just for the love of the game and that there is nothing wrong in it. He added that it's good for cricket if popular personalities like Prime Minister of India and actor Shahrukh come to watch a match.

Kapil also went on to say that there is nothing wrong in talking about a film during a match. He added that Shahrukh doesn't need cricket to promote his films, as he is a big star.

Following the controversy, BCCI too has come forward to control the damage. BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi said that Shahrukh has done nothing wrong by speaking about his film, as he was just responding to a question asked by commentator Rameez Raja. He added that somebody has blown it out of proportion and that King Khan is welcomed in all the BCCI matches.

Well, BCCI should have learned a big lesson from this controversy, because Shahrukh has won the war that BCCI itself started.