CHENNAI: "Are you ready for it?" If Piggy Chops asks you out for a party, can you ever say no?
It doesn't matter if Suresh Raina doesn't like her, the vivacious Priyanka set the stage on fire as Aaj ki raat became the perfect appetizer for the next 55 nights.
If you thought no party could ever match the real action, you should have been there. The two hours whizzed by, as if it was just a super T20 game, not even giving you time to catch your breath. If Amitabh Bachchan's recital of Prasoon Joshi's poem embodied all that is pure and beautiful in the sport called cricket, Salman Khan's medley of his own songs was like the slog overs of an innings. The excitement just didn't stop.
And then, of course, there was the girl from California, Katy. "We love you Katy," the posters had started going up right from the beginning, and when she hit the stage with "fireworks", the temperature rose by a few degrees on a balmy April evening.
It was goose-bump stuff right at the beginning, when Big B, in his baritone voice, recited: "Janam yadi fir se mile, to itna sa chahunga mein..." It seemed he was talking for every Indian who is so crazy about cricket.
When it's all about the game itself, how can the cricketers be far away? Chennai's domination of the Indian Premier League came up time and again and when Priyanka asked MSD whether he can make it three-in-a-row, the Super Singham smiled. "There are quite a few good teams. But we will give our best shot once again," Dhoni said, as the crowd burst into raptures.
When Kareena follows Priyanka, there's bound to be a sense of competition. As the Chammak Challo girl took the stage after the Jungli billi, Kareena fans got up from their seats. And Kareena made it sure that she didn't let her fans down.
Raina, clearly a member of the Kareena club, was over the moon. "Who did you like more? Kareena or Priyanka?" the left-hander was asked. "I think it was Kareena. Whatever she did was just awesome," Raina, pretty much in the party mood, said.
Kapoor, in the middle of all the Bollywood razzmatazz, tried to keep the cricket flavour going by asking Sourav Ganguly what makes the IPL so special. The former India captain talked about the platform that the tournament provides. "You have somebody like me or Gilly who have left cricket long back as one of the captains. And then you have a guy like Harbhajan leading another side...And then, of course there are all the young talented players who get the chance to showcase their talent," he said.
Ganguly, Dravid and Gilchrist really added a retro feel to the whole show, but one man who was missed was Sachin Tendulkar. It's hard to think of a union of top Indian players without the Little Master, but he was probably at his hotel room, preparing for the ball to roll on Wednesday.
It doesn't matter if Suresh Raina doesn't like her, the vivacious Priyanka set the stage on fire as Aaj ki raat became the perfect appetizer for the next 55 nights.
If you thought no party could ever match the real action, you should have been there. The two hours whizzed by, as if it was just a super T20 game, not even giving you time to catch your breath. If Amitabh Bachchan's recital of Prasoon Joshi's poem embodied all that is pure and beautiful in the sport called cricket, Salman Khan's medley of his own songs was like the slog overs of an innings. The excitement just didn't stop.
And then, of course, there was the girl from California, Katy. "We love you Katy," the posters had started going up right from the beginning, and when she hit the stage with "fireworks", the temperature rose by a few degrees on a balmy April evening.
It was goose-bump stuff right at the beginning, when Big B, in his baritone voice, recited: "Janam yadi fir se mile, to itna sa chahunga mein..." It seemed he was talking for every Indian who is so crazy about cricket.
When it's all about the game itself, how can the cricketers be far away? Chennai's domination of the Indian Premier League came up time and again and when Priyanka asked MSD whether he can make it three-in-a-row, the Super Singham smiled. "There are quite a few good teams. But we will give our best shot once again," Dhoni said, as the crowd burst into raptures.
When Kareena follows Priyanka, there's bound to be a sense of competition. As the Chammak Challo girl took the stage after the Jungli billi, Kareena fans got up from their seats. And Kareena made it sure that she didn't let her fans down.
Raina, clearly a member of the Kareena club, was over the moon. "Who did you like more? Kareena or Priyanka?" the left-hander was asked. "I think it was Kareena. Whatever she did was just awesome," Raina, pretty much in the party mood, said.
Kapoor, in the middle of all the Bollywood razzmatazz, tried to keep the cricket flavour going by asking Sourav Ganguly what makes the IPL so special. The former India captain talked about the platform that the tournament provides. "You have somebody like me or Gilly who have left cricket long back as one of the captains. And then you have a guy like Harbhajan leading another side...And then, of course there are all the young talented players who get the chance to showcase their talent," he said.
Ganguly, Dravid and Gilchrist really added a retro feel to the whole show, but one man who was missed was Sachin Tendulkar. It's hard to think of a union of top Indian players without the Little Master, but he was probably at his hotel room, preparing for the ball to roll on Wednesday.
