ISL opening ceremony: Top Bollywood stars dazzle down south

[Carp-e-diem]

Young Bollywood sensation Bhatt and enduring actress Rai rock at ISL opening ceremony in Chennai

Chennai: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's breathtaking moves complemented AR Rahman's soulful music as the country's who's who from various fields got together for football to kick off the second season of Indian Super League (ISL) with a brief opening ceremony yesterday.

Photos: Alia, Aishwarya enthrall audiences at the ISL opening ceremony


Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt at the ISL opening ceremony at Chennai on Saturday. Pic/ISL

Even as the beautiful Aishwarya sparkled by dancing to her hit numbers such as Dola Re Dola, Dhoom Dhoom, the highlight of the evening was music maestro Rahman performing the national anthem at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.

Star cast
The 45-minute programme was attended by Sachin Tendulkar, Rajnikanth, Mukesh and Nita Ambani and the Bachchan family, among others.


Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, Neeta Ambani, Bollyoood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt pose for a selfie during the opening ceremony of ISL2015 in Chennai on Saturday. Pic/ISL

Young Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt, with a little help from the evening's Master of Ceremonies, Arjun Kapoor, kicked things off with a brief performance, dancing to some of her famous hits, which included Radha and Disco Deewane from her hit flick Student of the Year before finishing her performance with ISL's theme song — Let's Football.

The franchise owners of the opening day fixture between Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC were called on stage.


Amitabh Bachchan applauds as the ISL opening ceremony gets to a fever pitch level. Pic/PTI

Amitabh Bachchan couldn't stop clapping as his daughter-in-law performed.

"Together with your support we will make ISL a success," said Nita Ambani, the inspiration behind the initiative and founder chairperson of Football Sports Development.

Also read: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to dance to medley of her songs at ISL opener

Rajnikanth hugging Kerala Blasters' co-owner Tendulkar and cine star Aishwarya were some of the worthy moments of the show. The noise level then reached a crescendo as two of India's greatest icons — Rajnikanth and Bachchan — took centre stage in front of the 15,000-20,000 gathering.

 

[Carp-e-diem]

In its second edition, League's opening ceremony was a star studded affair. Besides Aishwarya Rai and AR Rahman, actors Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor also lit up the stage at the opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.


With a host of celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment in attendance, the 30-minute affair had the hordes of spectators at the jam packed stadium in thrall.

The ceremony began with hundreds of children starting the countdown in a colourful manner, which was followed by the unveiling of the flags of all eight ISL franchises.

It was followed by a cultural performance by a group of women dancers showcasing the rich heritage of Tamil Nadu.

Bollywood star Alia Bhatt then injected a dose of glitz and glamour to the proceedings with a power-packed performance before veteran actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan set the stage alight with her moves.

After music composer-singer A.R. Rahman put forward a stirring rendition of the national anthem, Nita Ambani set the stage for the action to begin, formally declaring the ISL open.

Social media addict Alia Bhatt took to Instagram immediately to share a picture. Take a look!
http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url...966438&sig=APONPFlSyCOCKqbajgaCgjISiiFp0v35Sw

ISL: AR Rahman, Aishwarya Rai steal show in opening ceremony
Indian Super League opening ceremony was attended by, among others, Sachin Tendulkar, Rajnikanth, Mukesh and Nita Ambani, besides the Bachchan family.
By: PTI | Chennai |Published on:October 3, 2015 10:32 pm

• Comments (2)

Aishwarya Rai sparkled by dancing to her hit numbers such as Dola Re Dola, Dhoom Dhoom. (Source: PTI)
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s breathtaking moves complemented A R Rahman’s soulful music as the country’s who’s who from various fields got together for football to kick off the second season of Indian Super League (ISL) with a brief opening ceremony in Chennai on Saturday.

Even as the beautiful Aishwarya sparkled by dancing to her hit numbers such as Dola Re Dola, Dhoom Dhoom, the highlight of the evening was music maestro Rahman performing the national anthem at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

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• ISL 2015 opening ceremony: As it happened
• Aishwarya Rai to dance to medley of her songs at ISL opener
• India announce 'Let's Football', Indian Super League off to a glittering start

The 45-minute programme was attended by, among others, Sachin Tendulkar, Rajnikanth, Mukesh and Nita Ambani, besides the Bachchan family.

The initial part of the programme saw a performance by Bansi Kaul’s troop.

Young bollywood actor Alia Bhatt gyrated to some of her hits from movies like Student of the Year, besides performing to the ISL theme song ‘Let’s Football’.

The franchises owners of opening day fixture between Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC were called on to the stage and introduced by host Arjun Kapoor, following which Aishwarya entered the scene.

Amitabh Bachchan couldn’t stop clapping as her daughter-in-law performed.

“Together with your support we will make ISL a success,” said Nita Ambani, the inspiration behind the initiative and founder chairperson of Football Sports Development.

Heartthrob Rajnikanth hugging cricket legend and Kerala Blasters’ co-owner Tendulkar and cine star Aishwarya were some of the worthy moments of the show.

The noise level reached a crescendo as two of India’s greatest icons — Rajnikanth and Bachchan — took centre stage in front of 15,000-20,000 people and shared a word or two.

Earlier, after a few hundred kids unfurled the team banners of all the eight outfits of the ISL out on the pitch — choreographed wonderfully, it was Alia’s time.

Alia, with a little help from the Master of Ceremony of the evening, Arjun Kapoor, kicked things off with a brief performance, dancing to some of her famous hits, which included ‘Radha’ and ‘Disco Deewane’ before finishing her performance with the song that has been ringing in all ears for the past couple of months ‘C’mon India, Let’s Football’.

Aishwarya, with her husband Abhishek and father-in-law Amitabh watching from the VIP section, came and danced gracefully, with a Tamil number, particularly, cranking up the decibel level.

However, it was an altogether different ball game when Tendulkar and Rajnikanth entered the stage.

Nita Ambani then declared the second season open.



How India’s ISL became world football’s fourth biggest league
ISL attendances behind only England, Germany and Spain
• Opening game was also watched by 74.7m on television
• Can the ISL match the zeal of cricket as a national sport?
• Club-by-club guide: the teams drawing the crowds in India

Atlético de Kolkata celebrate after winning the Indian Super League at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images
Tuesday 23 December 2014 10.47 GMTLast modified on Wednesday 28 January 201513.30 GMT

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It was a fitting climax to a wildly unpredictable first season. A goal by Mohammed Rafique in the dying seconds of the final won the Indian Super League title for Atlético de Kolkata in what is now the fourth highest attended league in the world. None of that would have made sense a few months ago.

As if to add to the sporting state of flux in the country, two of its most favourite sons from its most favourite sport had a hand in the proceedings. Atlético, co-owned by cricket’s Sourav Ganguly, had beaten Kerala Blasters, co-owned by Sachin Tendulkar. Great friends on and off the field, they were filmed hugging and joking even after the result.

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Bollywood celebrities mingled with the players as the 37,000-odd crowd cheered and clapped at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday night. It was, all in all, a tremendously sporting day in India – in every sense.

It would be just as accurate to describe the crowd as an audience – the majority were neutrals, there for the closing ceremony, the lasers and fireworks, the western fast-food brands and to spot their favourite actor in the VIP seats. Plus, of course, because they love football – they just never had a chance to show how much within a safe, family environment.

Everything that so many fans in Europe, especially England, decry as ruining the game has seemingly enriched it in India. There is a difference between a seemingly endless passion being mined for profit by greedy executives and soulless corporations, and the attempt here to rejuvenate a dormant love for a game marginalised by its flashier cousin, using whatever means necessary to improve the experience.

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That the interest was there is beyond question now. You need only look at some of the figures behind the ISL’s success. The average attendance is 24,357, which is lower only than the Bundesliga, the Premier League and La Liga. It’s worth repeating: it is the fourth biggest league in the world. Bigger than France, than Italy, than Brazil, than Argentina and China – countries that have an established football tradition, and the only one that has more people.

The opening game drew 65,000 supporters to Atlético de Kolkata’s ground, the Salt Lake Stadium, for the match against Mumbai City. That game was also watched on TV by 74.7m, and the league as a whole had ratings of 170.6m in the first week. The figures for the first phase of this year’s Indian Premier League cricket was 184m.

Embracing the modern sport fan’s need for constant interaction, organisers went large on digital media too. The ISL site had 16m online video views through the course of the tournament. Its online channel registered 28.7m visits. On social media it recorded more than 1.8m conversations on Twitter and Facebook, 10bn page impressions and 275,000 registered members. The semi-final between Chennaiyin FC and Kerala Blasters attracted 1.1m online video views – the highest in India for a single sporting event.

The Twitter hashtags #ISLfie,#letsfootball and, a personal favourite,#fatafatifootball (an approximate translation would be “zippy-zappy football”) trended on matchdays and beyond.

— Xtra Time (@greymind43)December 22, 2014
A must watch for #ATK fans. #Kolkatawelcomes the #1stChampion of the@IndSuperLeague - @atletidekolkataWatch--> Kolkata welcomes the 1st Champions of the ISL - Atlético de Kolkata - YouTube

As the Times of India said, the ISL “has managed to recapture the imagination of football fans and effected a dramatic turnround in it, shattering old biases. Football had largely become a sofa sport in India – fans sitting at home watching and debating about European leagues rather than going out to watch Indian players. ISL, however, managed to turn these couch potatoes into stadium-goers”.

Having been to several matches recently while in India, I too could feel the excitement around the league. People were treating it as a whole evening’s entertainment – they arrived early for the fireworks and to gawk at the media scrums around celebrities.

The Salt Lake district of Kolkata was a blanket of red and white on matchdays, while the royal blue of Mumbai City seemed to cloak the expressway down to their stadium, east of the city. The auto rickshaw drivers were talking about it in Delhi – the main topic at the time being how much of a disappointment Alessandro Del Piero had been, though he did then score a stunning first goal for Delhi Dynamos. A national conversation about a national game – football in India has never quite managed it before.

Alessandro del Piero’s strike for Delhi Dynamos
The ISL got a lot of it right: an eight-team format centred in hotbeds of football interest; a round-robin contest ending with play-offs for the title to avoid tedium or any one club dominating; revamped stadiums with proper facilities; sponsorship to enable ticket prices to stay low; a new level of broadcast professionalism; and the right level of stardust – but there are things it must do to ensure its fanbase grows.

It needs to remain affordable to different groups. In a country where corruption allegations are never far from any industry it must try to stay clean and transparent. And it must make good on its promises over grassroots campaigns.

Most importantly there will have to be the I-league conversation. The I-League is India’s older national league but has never hit the heights the ISL has, and has ever had anything like the TV or media coverage.

The rivalries are older and fiercer – Royal Wahingdoh and Shillong Lajong in the state of Meghalaya, Churchill Brothers and Vasco da Gama in Goa, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in Kolkata – so uniting fans behind a city-wide team is a feat in itself.

But despite most of the clubs releasing their players for the ISL – which runs September to December – before they return to duty in January until May, the assumption is that one overall league would benefit the sport’s development, even if that league was tiered.

The long-term desire is to get India back on to the world stage via better infrastructure and learning from seasoned professionals from Europe and Latin America. The All India Football Federation’s secretary, Kushal Das, said: “The standard of play was high and it helped the Indian players to do well too by playing with international players and learning from top coaches. It has improved football infrastructure. It was a success on all fronts. There would be positives for I-League too.”

Rafique, the man who sealed the title,concurred, saying he learned much from the Kolkata club captain, Luis García, the former Liverpool player: “He is in a class of his own. There was a lot to learn from him – his practice, how he received the ball and just about everything. I learned a lot to improve myself.”

Besides making football popular again, one of the most important things the ISL has managed is to allow young footballers to dream again of playing professionally and one day for their country.

As Ganguly said: “I am happy that an Indian boy, Mohammed Rafique, scored today’s winner. That is what it is all about. It is very pleasing to know that the Indian players are being watched by the world.”



@GURU DUTT @Skull and Bones @

@PARIKRAMA @Echo_419 @45'22' @AUSTERLITZ @Hindustani78

 

[Turingsage]

If only they could play football instead of bollywood dance routines, there might be something to watch.

 

[PARIKRAMA]

Football needs more solid backing. I think way forward would be an ambassador for ISL who is world renowned and the cost of hiring shared by all franchises for the media glitz. Perhaps Beckam or may be since Messi is injured and under rehab we can get him to viist India and see some matches and get some exposure...
ISL is still in nascent stage.. We need to market it more favourably. ALso Indian talents needs to be nurtured and pushed more to learn from the best..

Perhaps some positive points of IPL can be incorporated to make it far better (leaving negatives of course)

BTW all this bollywood glitz is not the way actually. More intense and riveting matches makes it more interesting then bollywood songs and dance as opening..

 

[GURU DUTT]

Football needs more solid backing. I think way forward would be an ambassador for ISL who is world renowned and the cost of hiring shared by all franchises for the media glitz. Perhaps Beckam or may be since Messi is injured and under rehab we can get him to viist India and see some matches and get some exposure...
ISL is still in nascent stage.. We need to market it more favourably. ALso Indian talents needs to be nurtured and pushed more to learn from the best..

Perhaps some positive points of IPL can be incorporated to make it far better (leaving negatives of course)

BTW all this bollywood glitz is not the way actually. More intense and riveting matches makes it more interesting then bollywood songs and dance as opening..

thing is football was always played in india but dont know why dint it get the backing it always deserved ?

 

[Srinivas]

Lets Football !!

 

[Skillrex]

If only they could play football instead of bollywood dance routines, there might be something to watch.

exactly.. i dont why they always try to bring bollywood actress to dance on stage.. be it was National games or even common wealth games..