Chennai: From a bevy of Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor, as also US singer Katy Perry, the glamour quotient dominated the glitzy opening ceremony of the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the YMCA Ground here Tuesday night.
In his signature baritone, Bachchan set the stage alive with a heartwarming poem written by lyricist Prasoon Joshi.
This was the actor’s first stage appearance after undergoing abdominal surgery. He looked hale and hearty as he came on stage dressed in velvet coat and trousers, to recite “Janam Yadhi Phir Se Mile”.
The 69-year-old was accompanied by dancers from the Shiamak Davar troupe, who described the essence of the poem through their performance.
His routine was followed by Colonial Cousins, DJ Ravi Drums and Soth African percussionist group 1st Project who mesmerised with their peppy numbers.
The ceremony set the stage for the 54-day extravaganza featuring nine teams who would be locked in a battle for the next two months.
Bollywood’s “junglee billi” Priyanka Chopra then took the packed audience by surprise when she went up in the air during her performance, and got cricketer Harbhajan Singh to dance a little jig with her.
She moved around in the audience, and urged the front row members, including Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh, to dance. Bhajji, as the latter is lovingly called, was sporting enough to get up and join her for a jig.
Later, Priyanka took to the stage again to interact with the cricketers of title holders Chennai Super Kings, who are led by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
She pulled Dhoni’s leg, and asked the boys to join her for a dance on hit Tamil song “Nakka mukka”.
Kareena Kapoor then stole many hearts when she danced to her chartbuster “Chhamak chhallo” and swayed to “Dil mera muft ka” but the cherry on the cake was her warm “Vanakkam”.
India’s very own Michael Jackson, Prabhu Deva, performed some scintillating dance numbers as well.
The audience’s enthusiasm went up to the next level as the Tamil superstar performed his signature moves to songs like “Main aisa kyun hun” from “Lakshya” and “Tera hi jalwa” from “Wanted” in his hometown.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan then tried to set the stage ablaze with his “Dhinka Chika’ act from the film Ready.
Defending champions CSK skipper Dhoni placed the trophy back on the podium and BCCI president N Srinivasan and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla then joined the players on stage.
“IPL has grown from strength to strength and has established itself as a premiere tournament. BCCI is extremely proud of this achievement. But who is the cause?
“First the commitment of the players both international and domestic, who participated in the event, the enthusiasm of the franchises and assistance of the supporting stuffs and the cricket fans in India and around the world have contributed to its great success. We expect IPL V to be no less,” Srinivasan said.
“We have not forgotten who played for us. The BCCI will give an one-time opportunity to cricketers who have graced Indian cricket — International cricketer as well as domestic cricketers who played from a long time.
“Over 185 players will be benefited from it and we will start the distribution from this year. It is a small thank you from us to those who have done yeoman service to Indian cricket,” he added.
Shukla then flagged off the fifth edition, saying: “It gives me a great pleasure to flag off the fifth edition of the DLF Indian Premier League, an arena where quality international and domestic cricketers take part in intense contest of strategy and skill. IPL is a platform where talent meets opportunity.” (Agencies)