Phoenix Reflections

Scene I: Bhajji walks out of the dressing room, make-up and all. This will be his best shot. This is his big moment. He walks to the center of the field.

Director: Andddd Action -Phaaat! One Tight slap! The melodramatic hero reduced to tears while all relatives run to the victim to provide their shoulder in this time of distress.

A scene from a Hindi movie…..or a scene from the recent IPL. The line is a blur!

The Indian Premier League, a recent creation by the BCCI, is another big money making machine for all those involved. The game that follows the twenty20 format has more moolah going around than any other professional sports today. It began with crickets being auctioned as commodities. The highest bidder got to own an entire cricket team that would rake in million for the next few years. Of course the front runners in the game were the big-wigs of the country including some of the top names from Bollywood. Teams comprising of the best players from around the world battle it out for prize money that would secure the future of their next two generations.

A game once attached to prestige and loyalty for one's country has now diminished into any other business where pride and honor have gone out the window, or rather off the field. All teams are backed by Bollywood stars, which mean all brands they endorse automatically get linked. Also such star power attracts media hype and all actions, on and off the field is scrutinized. From its initiation in April the DLF has made more Indian news than any other national news in the country. And why not…when it brings in the TRP's who would want to eliminate such content for the sake of true journalism? Leading Indian News channels have dedicated 50% of their time on the DLF. NDTV 24x7 has molded some of its program formats to that of this Twenty20 game. Every single move of the cricketers as well as team associates is captured and analyzed. And by moves, not those with regard to the game per se but quite the contrary. In the last two months the number of controversies generated on the cricket field in India speaks for the dire situation the game has come to.

Like any other typical Bollywood movie, more masala and more action generate more revenue. Similarly, on the field more drama creates media hype. Right from unacceptable uniforms of the cheerleaders down to enmity among players everything has been BREAKING NEWS. Honestly, the attire of a foreign cheerleader on the field is irrelevant to a cricket lover. And when other mediums don’t shy from flaunting a woman's body, why the upheaval now?

The media has got its priorities wrong. While calamities hit many parts of the world this year, news channels continued to give more air time to a game considered a religion in India. In this ironic situation, the game has lost its honor and prestige among true cricket lovers while at the same time has made those who don’t know the stumps from the wicket watch the game for sheer star power.

Tune in for more filmi spices onto the cricket field.