Actor Shah Rukh Khan made an unwitting late entry to salvage the celebrations of Kolkata Knight Riders’ second Indian Premier League triumph from running aground. The uncrowned king of Bollywood, who is also the principal owner of KKR, controlled the climax in a manner depicted in his movies.
With the time for the official start of the celebrations set at 1 p.m. the giant Stadium filled up almost to its capacity much ahead of schedule. But the celebrations started almost two hours forty minutes late as the arrival of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Shah Rukh was delayed.
Khan, who was held back by a technical snag in his flight, tweeted apologies at regular breaks before arriving at 4.05 p.m. – more than three hours late. The CM, who cut short an official trip to north Bengal, was also held up for some inexplicable reason.
The scene became desperate as singers who belted out popular numbers and beauties of the tinsel town who swayed to the tunes could not lift the spirit of the audience. A big ensemble of ministers and Trinamool Congress leaders, who were responsible for organising the show, squatted on the Eden Gardens turf apparently exhausted.
The Chief Minister arrived at 3.35 p.m. and started the celebrations, but the revelry gained its tempo the moment the ‘Badshah’ arrived to a deafening roar from the galleries.
“Don ko agar koi pakar sakta hai to who KKR supporters hi honge (the KKR supporters are the only one who can apprehend the Don),” was how Khan modified his famous dialogue from his movie Don reacting to the thunderous cheers he received on arrival. “Humko aapki taaliyan bhi pasand hai aur gaaliyan bhi (we appreciate both your appreciation and displeasure). We will keep working hard to keep you entertained and share our happiness,” Khan added.
Later, Khan joined by the triumphant Knight Riders did a victory lap with the trophy much to the merriment of the crowd.
He bowed, waltzed, climbed the scaffoldings around the galleries and posed with the trophy to give his fans everything that they wanted.
In all, the hurriedly arranged celebrations paled in comparison to the revelry surrounding the KKR’s first triumph in 2012, but the huge gathering and its spontaneous approbation are something that would give the Knights the aim for more glory in future.
“My husband is in office, my daughter lives in a hostel. I didn’t have any work at home so I thought I might as well go to Eden Gardens to see KKR getting felicitated by the Chief Minister,” said homemaker Ranu Biswas, who came from Birati, a locality in distant North 24 Parganas.
