IPL franchise owners will have to pay any entertainment tax

The working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took a decision to this effect at a meeting in Chennai Tuesday, according to an official who attended it.

The official told IANS that it was decided to inform the franchise owners that they will have to apply for the entertainment tax exemption. But if the government declines their request they will have to bear the burden and not the BCCI, which owns the IPL.

The franchise owners, comprising mostly business tycoons and Bollywood stars, spent millions of dollars to buy teams and players for the world's richest cricket tournament starting April 18. In all, 59 Twenty20 matches will be played this year.

Three of the eight franchise owners spent over $100 million to buy the teams. They were business tycoon Mukesh Ambani (Mumbai for $111.9 million), Deccan Chronicle newspaper (Hyderabad for $107.01 million) and Vijay Mallya's UB Group (Bangalore for $106 million).

The other owners are India Cements (Chennai for $91 million), GMR Holdings (Delhi for $84 million), Preity Zinta-led consortium (Mohali for $76 million), Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies (Kolkata for $75.09 million) and Emerging Media (Jaipur for $67 million).

Usually, the government levies entertainment tax on Test matches and One-Day Internationals played in India. But often the tax is waived following requests from the BCCI or state associations.

It remains to be seen how the franchise owners will react to the BCCI decision and whether the government will insist on the entertainment tax.

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri to pick “DLF Player of the League”

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) has announced
that Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri will adjudicate the “DLF Player of the League” Award in the DLF Indian Premier League. The “DLF Player of the League” will be presented a trophy in addition to a cash prize of Rs 1 million by DLF.

The IPL kicks off on 18 April. IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi says, “It gives me great pleasure to announce that three legendary Indian cricketers will adjudicate the “DLF Player of the League” Award by DLF for the inaugural season. In Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi
Shastri, we have a truly world class panel of adjudicators, as these are cricketers that have been successful cricketing icons on the world stage. I look forward to their keen involvement for the inaugural and in the years ahead.”

Pataudi, Gavaskar and Shastri are all former Indian captains and members of the DLF Indian Premier League Governing Council. The choice of these three former Indian greats, was unanimous by the DLF IPL's Governing Council as the adjudicators for picking the Player of the League.

DLF Group executive director Rajeev Talwar says, “The world’s best cricketers are playing in the DLF Indian Premier League. The ‘DLF Player of the League’ Award, will recognize the best amongst the most talented.”

Pataudi said, “The DLF IPL is a wonderful venture and a real shot in the arm for the world game as it moves in the right direction. Additionally, the fact that it is being done with the sanction of the ICC, as well as other establishments is the right and correct way forward. Given the wealth of talent on display, I feel we have a really tough task ahead of us. However, I am confident that with the help of my two colleagues, we will be able to choose a deserving winner.”

Gavaskar said, “It has been a pleasure to have associated with the developmental work for the DLF Indian Premier League. I am certain that this format will not only help promote the popularity of the game in India , but will also be hugely beneficial for the entire cricketing fraternity in the long run. Choosing a Man of the Match or a Man of the Series is always a difficult job but given the wealth of talent on display in the inaugural season of the DLF Indian
Premier League it becomes all the more difficult Hopefully with the years of experience between Tiger, Ravi and myself, I am sure that our choice for the Man of the Series, will not disappoint the lovers of the game.”

Shastri said, “It is a privilege and an honour to be a member of the panel that will decide the ‘DLF Player of the League’ in the DLF Indian Premier League. In our effort to make a choice, I feel that we have a major headache on our hands considering the quality of players on view during the inaugural season of the DLF Indian Premier League. I can only hope that one star shines brighter than the others to make our task easier."

IPL to launch website on April 7, BCCI in July

Chennai (PTI): The multi-million dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) will launch its website next month while BCCI's much awaited portal will see the light of the day in July this year.

IPL will launch its website on April 7, to be run by a North America-based company which will also develop a portal for the BCCI.

"BCCI/IPL has negotiated a contract with a North American based company to run and operate its portals and the minimum guarantee has been negotiated at USD 50 million over the next 10 years," IPL sources said.

"There will be further revenue share of 50-50 from the first dollar earned by the Company. The IPL portal will be launched on April 7 and the BCCI portal towards July this year," the sources added.

Meanwhile, BCCI's Working Committee meeting has also decided that the Board and IPL will have a 50-50 share with Bangalore franchisee United Breweries Group of the cost of the grand opening ceremony in Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 18.

The meeting has also approved ITC Welcome Group hotels in the eight cities where the IPL matches are to be held as official hotels for three years and Kingfisher Airlines as official airline for the same number of years.

The Working Committee also decided to hire Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri as star commentators for the IPL and approved and earlier decision to award the first year of production of IPL matches to IMG.

Rani, Bipasha to do music video for Kolkata Knight Riders

BONG-SHELLS: Rani Mukherjee and Bipasha Basu will add the perfect Bengali quotient to SRK's IPL music video.

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has roped in actors Rani Mukherjee and Bipasha Basu to participate in his music video for his Kolkata Knight Riders.

Shah Rukh had bought the Kolkata franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for $85 million last month. The Twenty20 competition of the IPL begins on April 18.

Preity Zinta who owns the Mohali franchise of the IPL has apparently no intention of competing with Shah Rukh as far as star line up in the IPL music video is concerned.

A source close to Preity Zinta, who's currently in London, set aside the rumours that she intends to get Sunny and Bobby Deol and their father-actor Dharmendra to do a music video for the Mohali team.

"The playing field when the matches start in April will be filled with star-cricketers. That takes care of the glam element," said the source.

Mithun vs SRK over IPL

DADA VS BADSHAH: Mithun says he does not wish to get into any comparison with SRK.

New Delhi: Shah Rukh Khan has got some serious competition on the cricket field with none other than Mithun Chakraborty.

Days after the gala launch of King Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders team for the multimillon dollar Indian Premier League (IPL), rival Zee-promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL) has roped in Mithun to be the franchisee owner of one of its sides Kolkata Tigers.

Shah Rukh bought his IPL team for $75 million. It is not yet known how much Mithun paid for his team, which has Craig Macmillan as captain, Lance Klusener, Rohan Gavaskar and Upul Chandana among others.

Experts feel the rebel league bosses opted for Mithun, who rose from the ranks in Kolkata to make it big in Mumbai films and still holds a huge fan following in the City of Joy, to counter the massive propaganda mileage the IPL got in the city and across the country after Shah Rukh's Red Chillies Entertainment won the franchisee rights for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Mithun's presence could also help in boosting the brand image of the Craig Mcmillan-led team, which has attracted little attention from the media or sports aficionados ever since it came into being last year.

Its the time for "IPL fever "

With barely a month left for the biggest cricketing extravaganza - IPL, the franchisees are leaving no stone unturned to create maximum awareness for their respective teams.

Shah Rukh Khan held press conferences in Mumbai and Kolkata for his team Kolkata Knight Riders where he unveiled the logo, the theme song (composed by Vishal-Shekhar) and in the process had a field-day with the media. We had even earlier informed you of Preity Zinta having roped in Sajid- Wajid and Daler Mehndi for her team song. In fact last week, even the Bangalore Royal Challengers, owned by Vijay Mallya had announced their plans for an ad and a promotional video which would feature Rahul Dravid along with Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone.

Now it seems like the promotion isn’t enough for the teams. News has it that Shah Rukh Khan has apparently approached veteran music composer Bappi Lahiri to compose some more songs for his team. Bappi would be composing three songs which would be sung by him, Usha Uthup and a Bengali band called Bhoomi. The songs would be recorded some time next week and you never know King Khan may himself croon some lines.

Meanwhile, Preity Zinta recently shot for her music video for her Mohali team. The video is made under Preity’s company called P Zinta Film World and is directed by ad filmmaker Ram Madhvani who recently directed the Bheja Kam track for Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par. The music of the video has a Punjabi flavour with Bhangra King Daler Mehndi lending his vocals and Sajid- Wajid (Partner, Welcome) composing the music. Cricket seems to be on top of the mind of some top Bollywood stars.

Dasavatharam release to be postponed until Indian Premier League’s debut tournament is over

CHENNAI: The release of Kamal Haasan’s magnum opus Dasavatharam is likely to be postponed, once again.

This time, the movie has not run into troubled waters as earlier, but, it is said, will be released only in June, after the Indian Premier League’s debut tournament is over.

The Indian Premier League, created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, will begin its first tournament on April 18, which will go on till June 1.

Sources said the Dasavatharam team is apprehensive of how the cricket series will affect the response to the movie and so, has decided to release the movie only after the IPL Twenty20 series is over.

Directed by K S Ravikumar and produced by Oscar Ravichandran, Dasavatharam has Kamal Haasan playing 10 roles, including those of an African tribal, an aged woman, George W Bush and of a Sardar, for the first time.

Kamal Haasan had earlier described the movie as his ‘biggest, hardest and longest project’ so far. The Kamal Haasan-Asin starrer is also Himesh Reshamiyya’s first Tamil movie as a music director, besides being Mallika Sherawat’s first Tamil movie.

Meanwhile, Kamal Haasan called on Chief Minister M Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence on Tuesday morning to invite him for the audio release of Dasavatharam, which will be held at the Nehru Stadium on April 25.

Karunanidhi has confirmed his participation. Jackie Chan is also said to be attending the event. Other popular actors, including Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Mamootty, Chiranjeevi, Vishnuvardhan and Mithun Chakraborty, are expected to attend the audio release.