Bringing it out with a Bang

Some of Bollywood’s biggest stars came out to celebrate the launch of the 2015 season of the Indian Premier League. The show was hosted by Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan who kept the audiences engaged with his cheeky one liners at the same time keeping them abreast of the events happenings.

Shahid Kapoor got things underway with an electric performance much to the delight of the crowd, followed by a performance by Anushka Sharma, who got the heartbeats racing with her on-stage presence. In between performances, the crowd was also given a sneek peek to visuals of the IPL winners from the years gone by which kept them glued to their favorite IPL champions.

The Shahid Kapoor-Anushka Sharma duo then made their way for the multi-talented Farhan Akhtar who got the crowd’s vocal chords ringing. However the loudest cheer of the night was reserved for heartthrob Hrithik Roshan who set the stage on fire with some mind numbing dance moves and left the crowd awestruck. Hrithik brought an energy that got everyone in the stands dancing and grooving to his moves on the aisles. He sure was the show-stopper of the night.

All the artists who performed on the night later thanked the audience for being a sport, braving the rain and making their presence felt on a night that proved to be the perfect precursor for what should be an exciting IPL season.

 

It rained for a good couple of hours before the scheduled start of the opening ceremony of Pepsi IPL 2015. But that did not dampen the hopes of the patient crowd that had gathered here at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata. Delayed nevertheless, the stadium got bustling as cricket stars and the who’s who from the film fraternity took centrestage for the grand opening celebration to kick-start the eighth edition of the IPL.

It was literally a case of ‘Lights-Camera-Action’ as the opening ceremony donned a perfect blend of cricketing values and entertainment extravaganza. The two-hour spectacle glittered the sky of the City of Joy and marked the beginning of a cricketing carnival that would go on for the next 45 days.

The captains of all the eight IPL teams made their way to the podium and not surprisingly received a huge round of applause from the thousands that had thronged the stadium to catch a glimpse of their favorite cricketing superstars. As is the norm every year, the captains took the MCC Spirit of Cricket pledge, reaffirming the values in IPL’s commitment to the Spirit of Cricket, which has been on display since the competition’s inception in 2008. Defending champions and captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders Gautam Gambhir then made his way to put the trophy back in play signaling the start of the 2015 season. 

This was just the start of the proceedings; the show had not even begun, the stage was just about warming-up for the plush performances ahead.