The Bollywood Kabaddi League

Chances are you've read of the new Pro Kabaddi League that kicked off in India last weekend. Chances are you've read more about which industrialists and Bollywood stars own kabaddi teams than about the players themselves. A few years ago, this would have made me extremely angry. I'd have moaned about how athletes outside of cricket aren't given their cultural and economic due. I've now come to live with the fact that India believes in the Bollywood trickle-down theory. Add Bollywood and industrialist star power to any product and hope that interest in that product trickles down to their fans once they get a first look.

Every aspect of the Kabaddi League broadcast was designed to appeal to this viewer. The jhintak lighting straight out of a 80s disco was probably meant to recreate a windows media player visualization. If you started doing shots every time the over-enthusiastic commentator uttered the words "fast, quick and catchy" you'd be drunk in five minutes. The camera cut to reaction shots of every major Bollywood celebrity even though most didn't seem to understand why so many grown men were trying to touch each other and run away. Even Sachin Tendulkar made the right noises about how he doesn't support a specific team but the sport of Kabaddi in general. It was a gargantuan media effort designed to tell people "So many important people are interested in the sport, why aren't you?"

Unfortunate as it might be for a sport, would I have watched the first day if it weren't for so many people campaigning? Probably not. Fortunately the matches were fantastic and I tuned in the day after not for the celebrities but for the game. I imagine there would be a lot of people like me and even if there aren't, atleast a whole lot of people got a sense of what the sport was about on the first day. Either way it's a win-win for the players.

As I type Indian athletes are putting in spectacular performances at the Commonwealth Games so we as a nation can forget them within a year while they languish to find economic support systems. Maybe that's what we need in the likes of weightlifting, shooting and athletics as well. A formation of a league where Bollywood stars and industrialists can own players and teams so the nation at large can wake up to those sports more often than once every four years. We aren't a country that loves sport but no one can question our love for Bollywood. Maybe it will trickle down.