Indiantelevision.com Team

(17 April 2008 1:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Handset maker Nokia has announced that it is the presenting sponsor of Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders IPL team. Activities that are being done include the launch of a music album as well as a contest.

Nokia India VP, MD D Shivakumar says, “Cricket and Shah Rukh Khan are two passions that the youth of this country connect with. We are privileged to be associated with the Kolkata Knight Riders and look forward to creating an action packed season for our young consumers. This initiative is an extension of our commitment to connect people with their dreams and aspirations by giving them an opportunity to be a step closer to their icons and share a platform with them. We have been involved with Shah Rukh khan in the past and worked with him on Om Shanti Om. We were also involved with the World Cup and with the T20 World Cup.”

SRK notes that he has been Nokia’s brand ambassador. “Anybody who is associated with a brand like Nokia sees their brand value go up. Nokia is about connecting the youth. The Kolkata Knight Riders are also about connecting youth. We will work together towards connecting youth with our passion and ideaology. I am proud to have a team with members like Ishant Sharma and Saurav Ganguly who share my passion.”

A promotional music album Nokia 2 Hot 2 Cool has been launched. Five songs have been composed for the team. Vishal and Shekhar, Bappi Lahiri and Pritam have composed the music. The album will be available with all Nokia 5610 and Nokia 5310 xpressMusic handsets. Hungama.com will also be promoting the album as will T-series.

Nokia and SRK are also doing a contest Millan Of The Villains. A tongue in cheek Khan explains that his team are a disjointed bunch of brilliant players. There is intrigue about how they will perform together. “Nokia is enabling this connection between the apparently disconnected and through this contest we are asking for people’s help in helping my players perform well together.”

The contest is looking to create a platform which will help cricket fans connect with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The contest will run for four weeks simultaneously with the IPL. Each week five winners will be chosen. The winners will get the chance to watch the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on 16 May with SRK from the Nokia Pavilion. They will also get the opportunity to meet SRK and his team members at a Nokia After Game party that evening.

In Blog With SRK will blog from his Nokia device with his fans for the first time. This is also a part of the contest and consumers get the opportunity to engage in an online dialogue with the suiperstar on his team, the IPL and his association with Nokia. The site is www.nokia.com/millan.

Nokia consumers will be able to download two minute episodes of Hoog Lee which is the Kolkata Knight Riders mascot. There will also be short clips of change room interviews in the form of downloads.

Besides the Nokia handsets, this will be available on the Kolkata Knight Riders site for free. Consumers will also have access to Knight Rider images, wallpapers and other digital memorabilia for free.

Asked how he is able to handle many things at the same time like hosting Panchvi Pass, doing films and overseeing his IPL team, SRK says that his philosophy is to always give a 100 per cent. “Even then you may not succeed. However it is important to know that you gave it your best shot. This is what I expect from my team. The effort has to be to win but if we do not win it should not be because we did not try our best.

"Fans have given me a good status as an entertainer. While being an entertainer involves emotional and physical stress I will never complain about working hard to entertain people. I would also say that the ideology of the Kolkata Knight Riders is meant for the world and not just for Indians.”

When asked about whether Shoaib Akhtar would be playing, he says that the decision will rest in the hands of the tribunal. “The matter is out of my hands. We would love him to play. But we also have many bowlers. We have seven bowlers in our starting eleven including Chris Gayle and Saurav Ganguly who can be used a lot in T20.”