Who said T20 and Tagore don’t match? Not Shah Rukh Khan. The Bollywood star wants Rabindrasangeet to fill the Eden Gardens air on May 8 before his Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

After sports minister Subhas Chakraborty’s comment that Tagore’s birth anniversary — Panchishe Baisakh, which falls on Thursday — was not the occasion for Shah Rukh and his Bollywood buddies to do the bump and grind at the Eden, King Khan has thought better than to risk offending supposed Bengali sentiments.

According to the earlier plan, Shah Rukh was to stage a 10-minute pre-match song-and-dance show with friends and Bollywood A-listers like Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan — don’t forget he’s a Tagore from his mother’s side, though it’s hard to say if Kareena will make a good Tagore bahu if they do get married.

Instead, “local artistes” will sing and dance to Tagore’s tunes. Singer Indrani Sen has confirmed participation, while Srikanta Acharya has turned down the offer. “It was a last-minute plan. The IPL’s event management team got in touch with me on Monday. I will sing two Tagore songs at the most. One of them will be in Hindi,” as said Indrani.

Shah Rukh’s team has also approached Mamata Shankar’s Ballet Troupe for a dance performance. “I have submitted a proposal for two dance recitals. In one, I will perform along with my troupe,” said Mamata Shankar, who is yet to finalise the programme.
Mamata Shankar

The man of the moment, meanwhile, will remain content watching the Rabindrik action from the sidelines. Since he is taking such pains, he should make sure the cheerleaders don’t jump into the act with their pompoms and bonbons. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Shah Rukh will at the most go up to garland a Tagore portrait placed on the stage that will come up by the boundary line and will be dismantled before Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid’s men begin their slightly faster paced T20 song-and-dance gig around 8pm.

Officials from the CAB and Shah Rukh's Red Chillies Entertainment met police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti on Tuesday to decide on the size and location of the stage.

"The stage will measure 36x24 ft and will possibly be set up in front of J block, outside the boundary ropes, for safety reasons. Since the main police control tower is situated in J block, we would be better equipped to handle a crisis in the course of the programme," said a senior police officer.

Maybe, they shouldn't worry too much. "Local artistes" are unlikely to set the Eden on fire even if they sing Aguner parashmani chhnoao prane (Touch my heart with the gem of fire).



TheTelegraphIndia

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