Bollywood stars look beyond IPL to bag a sport league of their own

From Shah Rukh Khan making the most of his SRK brand to rake it all in with the Indian Premier League’s Kolkata Knight Riders to Abhishek Bachchan acquiring a kabaddi team, Bollywood has found a new outlet for its glamour and money – Indian sports leagues.

Abhishek Bachchan has bought the Jaipur team in the Pro Kabbadi League. AFP

From Shah Rukh Khan making the most of his SRK brand to rake it all in with the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Kolkata Knight Riders to Abhishek Bachchan acquiring a kabaddi team, Bollywood has found a new outlet for its glamour and money – Indian sports leagues. We look at a few star-studded business ventures.

Shah Rukh Khan

King Khan has always waxed lyrical about football. He played the sport at school and got his children, Suhana and Aryan, to sign up, too. In 2012 he was in talks to take up a stake in I-League’s Goa-based club Dempo. So it came as no surprise that Khan expressed an interest in owning a team in the new Indian Super League football tournament, organised by the All India Football Federation and IMG-Reliance this year.

The actor’s experience as the co-owner of Indian Premier League’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) makes a compelling case for buying a Kolkata football club as well. KKR, which Khan’s production company Red Chillies Entertainment owns along with actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta, had a bumpy road to success, but the team’s 2012 win gave them a solid footing in the league. The 48-year-old actor’s strategy and a revamp of KKR paid off generously, too.

The Bachchans

It’s an infallible plan. Convince one of Bollywood’s greatest actors – and his son – to endorse a struggling sector and sit back to watch the ripple effect. When his company, Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, announced its participation in the team auction for a kabaddi league alongside other Indian companies such as Mahindra and Mahindra and Air India in January, it caused an immediate buzz and gave hope to the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) that works hard to raise the profile of the nearly forgotten sport. The Bachchans’s acquisition of the Jaipur team in the Pro Kabaddi League is the latest example of Bollywood stars’ pushing a sport. For those who don’t know, kabaddi is a team sport of Indian origin that combines wrestling and rugby, in which players try to tag or catch a member of the opposing team while repeating the word “kabaddi”. It is a game that is all but forgotten (as is hockey, India’s national sport) in a nation that is so obsessed with cricket.

Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Kapoor wants some of the football action, too – he is in talks to own the Mumbai franchise in the Indian Super League, because he is “looking to translate his passion for the sport into development activity”. Kapoor will co-own the Mumbai franchise of the eight-city tournament that will be played from September until November.

John Abraham

Model, actor, producer, humanitarian and now co-owner of a hockey team. There is little the 41-year-old actor hasn’t dabbled in successfully. Last December, Abraham was named a partner of the Delhi Waveriders team in the Hockey India League. The producer of the critically acclaimed Vicky Donor (2012) was approached to be the brand ambassador of the team, but insisted on being more than just a famous face for the franchise and wanted to have a say in picking players and running the team.

Now he wants more: Abraham is determined to bring glory back to Indian football and is reportedly in talks to co-own a team in the Indian Super League with the Indian national cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The Khan brothers

It’s all about stars for charity when it comes to the brothers Salman and Sohail Khan. Sohail plays in the Celebrity Cricket League, an annual tournament featuring teams made of Indian television and film celebrities, and owns the Mumbai Heroes team, which Salman endorses. Dubai was a venue for the games last year.

But it seems Salman Khan wants to go professional: recent news reports suggest he has been in talks to own an Indian Super League team. Sallu, who has often said “sports should be encouraged”, is also planning to produce a sport-based film.

Sanjay Dutt

Dutt might be in prison serving out the remainder of his sentence for his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, but his mixed martial arts venture with the businessman Raj Kundra has survived testing times. The 54-year old actor, who is serving prison time for illegal possession of arms in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, partnered with Kundra (who also owns IPL’s Rajasthan Royals team with his wife and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty), to set up the Super Fight League (SFL) in 2012.

The organisation has gone from strength to strength and features a galaxy of international heavyweight champions, including the former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley. The current season, which is being broadcast on ESPN Star Sports, has 250 male and female fighters from India and abroad competing for the SFL World Champions Trophy.