jubilee
Mar-11-08, 09:22 PM
I'm no karta-dharta of hockey, fumes SRK
Nadim Siraj
Posted online: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 0011 hrs Print Email
Kolkata, March 11: It was the launch of the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. The setting and timing could not have been more ironic for Shah Rukh Khan. Two days after the senior national hockey team failed to earn a ticket for the Beijing Olympics, the Bollywood superstar who last year breathed new life into Indian hockey with Chak de India, was flabbergasted at repeatedly being asked about the Olympics qualification debacle.
“I am no karta-dharta (whole and soul) of hockey, am I?” Shah Rukh said on Tuesday when asked by a reporter about how much he rues the downfall of Indian hockey in the backdrop of the Chak de India euphoria last year.
“I know there is a huge amount of sadness among Indian sports fans for what happened to the hockey team. Hockey has traditionally been a glorious sport in India. But let’s all get over this blame game. Let’s put it behind us,” an animated SRK retorted when asked if he should have invested in hockey rather than going for cricket.
“Hockey will bounce back. It should learn a lesson from the way the Australian cricket has failed on the recent tour. Australia is a great team and they will bounce back, so will Indian hockey,” said Shah Rukh, drawing a rather far-fetched parallel between the two cases.
Shah Rukh’s movie Chak de India had generated a feeling that Indian hockey would be revitalised because of the impact of the smash hit.
“I am the only actor to play in a film which is about women’s hockey,” he said. “What more can I do? It’s as if my father played hockey, my father’s father played hockey, and so on,” Shah Rukh added, tongue-in-cheek.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/283335.html
Nadim Siraj
Posted online: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 0011 hrs Print Email
Kolkata, March 11: It was the launch of the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. The setting and timing could not have been more ironic for Shah Rukh Khan. Two days after the senior national hockey team failed to earn a ticket for the Beijing Olympics, the Bollywood superstar who last year breathed new life into Indian hockey with Chak de India, was flabbergasted at repeatedly being asked about the Olympics qualification debacle.
“I am no karta-dharta (whole and soul) of hockey, am I?” Shah Rukh said on Tuesday when asked by a reporter about how much he rues the downfall of Indian hockey in the backdrop of the Chak de India euphoria last year.
“I know there is a huge amount of sadness among Indian sports fans for what happened to the hockey team. Hockey has traditionally been a glorious sport in India. But let’s all get over this blame game. Let’s put it behind us,” an animated SRK retorted when asked if he should have invested in hockey rather than going for cricket.
“Hockey will bounce back. It should learn a lesson from the way the Australian cricket has failed on the recent tour. Australia is a great team and they will bounce back, so will Indian hockey,” said Shah Rukh, drawing a rather far-fetched parallel between the two cases.
Shah Rukh’s movie Chak de India had generated a feeling that Indian hockey would be revitalised because of the impact of the smash hit.
“I am the only actor to play in a film which is about women’s hockey,” he said. “What more can I do? It’s as if my father played hockey, my father’s father played hockey, and so on,” Shah Rukh added, tongue-in-cheek.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/283335.html