SRK Buys T20 Team Red Steel; Continues Indo-Caribbean Calypso

SRK’s recent purchase of a West Indies cricket team has only cemented a long-standing bond between the two countries.

Ten days after West Indies celebrated the 170th anniversary of Indians arriving in the West Indies, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan contributed to the Indo-West Indian cricket calypso in the way only he can. By buying a team.

According to a report in the Times of India, Shah Rukh has purchased the T20 team Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) – Red Steel in the Caribbean Premier League. SRK already co-owns the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise in the Indian Premier League. Now, his company, Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd – along with KKR co-owners Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta – has added yet another feather to the already over populated cap.

This is in line with our vision to expand globally . We are thrilled to become part of the cricketing tradition of Trinidad & Tobago. The passion for franchise cricket in the Caribbean is evident with the success of CPL and we hope to bring all the best practices of KKR to the T&T franchise.
– Shahrukh Khan told Times of India

Shah Rukh has clearly already realigned himself with his new role – witness the energetic West Indies dance he grooves to, below:

Caribbean Connection

Shah Rukh’s purchase is only the latest in a long and historic line of Indo-West Indian rendezvous.

India’s relationship with West Indies – especially Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana – is premised on the country’s large Indian-origin population.

These men and women of the Caribbean consider themselves as West Indian as it gets – in the way they dress, talk, eat, what-have-you. Yet there is still love for the erstwhile motherland, at least when it comes to cricket and Bollywood.

The indentured labour migration, which lasted for over 80 years from 1838, had provided several business opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs both in India and the Caribbean. The weekly rations for the bound coolies were imported from India.

Over the years, whenever Bollywood films have done well overseas, a large part of the fanfare and a considerable amount of moolah have been reportedly raked in from the islands.

Bollywood has always served as the ultimate unifier for diasporas across the world, and the Caribbean is no different. Hindi films have clearly been an agency of identification, whereby Indian-origin citizens of the West Indies have managed to relate to characters, thoughts and ideas.

Case in point: there are dance competitions held in Trinidad & Tobago to Bollywood songs! Watch one such competition video below.

Salman’s First Hit Struck it Big Overseas

Salman Khan’s 1989 film Maine Pyar Kiya was a huge success even overseas, breaking box-office records everywhere – especially in the West Indies.

Dubbed in English as When Love Calls, a 125-minute version, Salman’s first hit feature clearly went down well with the Caribbean markets, dominating box-office collections at both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

West Indian Cricketers with Indian Actors

For the uninitiated, Bollywood’s love affair with cricket (or vice-versa – depending on which half of the fanfare you stand on), dates back eons ago. Much before Anushka Sharma went globetrotting with Virat Kohli, actress Anju Mahendru had almost gotten married to cricketing legend Sir Garfield Sobers.

Sobers fell in love with Anju when he came to India in 1967 as captain of the West Indies team and the two had a brief engagement. This, of course, was long before she became the girlfriend of erstwhile Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna.

The story of Masaba Gupta’s birth has been one of celebdom’s poorest kept secrets. Cricketer Viv Richards fell in love with actress Neena Gupta, who then went on to birth a child – now one of the leading fashion designers in the country. Though Richards and Neena never married, the two continue to be doting parents to Masaba.

First Bolly Film Shot in T&T: Dulha Mil Gaya

Here’s something you didn’t know – the Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen and Fardeen Khan starrer Dulha Mil Gaya (2010) is the only Bollywood film to have been shot in Trinidad and Tobago.

West ‘Indian’ Connection

For decades, Indian origin cricketers have been not only playing in the West Indian cricket team, but have also been performing exceptionally well. From Rohan Kanhai in the 60s to Sunil Narine at present, Guyana and Trinidad have been hot spots for recruiting Indian origin players.

Up till now, many Indian origin players have represented West Indies cricket on the international scale.

Prominent Indian-origin players who’ve featured in the annals of West indian cricket include: Allvin Kallicharran, Rohan Kanhai, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sonny Ramadhin , Faoud Bacchus, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Darren Ganga and Dinanath Ramnarine – among several others.

Players like Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Naraine and Devendra Bishoo are part of the current team as well.

Sunil Gavaskar’s Love for Rohan Kanhai

Former Indian opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar named his son Rohan after legendary West Indian cricketer Rohan Kanhai, who has an Indo-Guyanese descent. Gavaskar had famously said: “To say that he is the greatest batsman I have ever seen so far is to put it mildly.”

Sunil Narine and Sunil Gavaskar

If Sunil Gavaskar has named his son after a West Indian cricketer, Indian-origin parents, Christina Narine and Shahid Narine returned the favour in kind. The Narines, who are big fans of the Little Master, named their son – Sunil Narine – after him, as reported by The Indian Express.