27 May,2011 06:21 AM IST | | Sheetal Sukhija
While actors are busy practicing for the Celebrity Cricket League, Sandalwood producers are suffering losses of Rs 2 lakh a day; industry is estimated to have lost about Rs 25 lakh in the last week alone
The Celebrity Cricket League T20 starting on June 4 promises to be a showstopper for two sections of people for all the differing reasons.
Cricket and movie fans are looking forward to catch the action between the Karnataka Bulldozers and Mumbai Heroes on the opening day of the tournament at Chinnaswamy stadium on June 4
While cricket and movie fans look forward to the action between the Karnataka Bulldozers and Mumbai Heroes on the opening day of the tournament to be held at Chinnaswamy stadium, producers in the film industry are depressed as they run into losses.
Stars like Sudeep, Shivraj Kumar, Upendra and Digganth are playing for the team and their respective movie shoots have taken a backseat. Some movies are running up losses because of cancellations and delays.
Producers are suffering losses of Rs 2 lakhs on a daily basis and in the last week alone, the Sandalwood industry is estimated to have lost Rs 25 lakhs.
Some producers have stalled shoots, while others have delayed schedules. Many have even allowed their crews and technicians to go on a short holiday.
"I had to shoot for my movie Varadhanayaka with Sudeep, Chiranjeevi Sarja and Arjun Sarja today. But the dates of the matches came out so late and now I have been forced to postpone," said Producer Shankare Gowda, who is also playing for the team.
No sweet songs
Another producer Manju, who was to start shooting the song sequences with Digganth for his next flick Life Ishte Ne has also faced several problems.
"We were not informed about this earlier. Neither did the producer's association tell us about the tournament. I have got dates from actors only after the tournament ends next month," he said.
Meanwhile, Director of Hodi Maga star Shivraj Kumar's 101st movie Lakshmi, Raghava Loki, is worried. "I had grand plans for my movie because a strategy like this has never been tried in Sandalwood before. We have hired international cameras and technicians.
u00a0
Each day on the sets costs nothing less than Rs 2 lakh and upwards. The sudden announcement of the tournament has caused many problems, but hopefully the stars will promote our movies during the matches," Loki said.
Several movies scheduled to be shot abroad have also been cancelled. With the recent trend of Bollywood actors featuring in Sandalwood flicks catching on, the cancellations have left a negative impression on these stars.
An industry insider revealed, "We were shooting at Kanteerva Stadium and a Bollywood star was flown in for a two day shoot. She was put up at a 5-star hotel and when the lead actor did not turn up for over five hours, she threw a tantrum and left."
Another big section of the industry that has suffered is the daily wage workers. "Around 3,000u00a0 workers are stranded because of shoot cancellations and have nowhere to go because they had been hired months in advance," the insider said.
Secretary of the Producer's association Madhusudhan Reddy believes that although huge losses have been incurred, it is all for the betterment of the industry.
"There should be smooth cooperation between the artists and the industry and we hope that we have displayed the same during this crucial period. We as producers have to bear with such situations. I am losing about five lakh per day myself," he added.
Just like champs
Meanwhile, the 16 member squad of the Karnataka Bulldozers, owned by AKK Entertainment, a company promoted by entrepreneur Ashok Kheny, meets religiously each morning at the NRI Grounds in Palace Grounds.
u00a0
The team captained by ace cricketer Sudeep and practice starts at 6 am and continues till 10.30 am.
Sudeep (captain), Dhruv (vice-captain), Shivraj Kumar, Digganth, Chiranjeevi Sarja, Pradeep,
J Karthik, Rahul, Tarun Chandra, Tharun Sudhir, Rajeev, Mahesh, Bhaskar, Abhimanyu, Shankare Gowda andu00a0 Dharma Keertiraj
General Manager of the AKK Entertainment Mayukha said, "All the teams have some really big stars from the entertainment world.
We announced the dates only a week ago because we had to settle on mutual consent of all the stars. The players are really excited and they are enthusiastic about creating an impact."
While the industry continues to suffer, it remains to be seen if the team will leave an impact in this series, which is a one-of-a-kind event in the country.
Know your captain
SANDALWOOD
Sudeep, Captain, Karnataka Bulldozers
' Represented the VTU as an ace batsmen and wicket keeper
' Represented Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering
' Has played at many friendly matches held between Bollywood and the Indian Cricket team before
' Played a friendly match that was played between Bollywood and Sandalwood in Mumbai
TOLLYWOOD
Daggubati Venkatesh, Captain, Telugu Tiger
' Has not played in any major celebrity cricket games
' Won the curtain raiser match against Mumbai Heroes heading the Southern Super Stars in Vishakapatnam on May 5
Actress Pooja Gandhi, Sanjana, Aindrita Ray, Tara Radhika Pandit and Neetoo Bhavana will cheer for Karnataka Bulldozers during the tournament
KOLLYWOOD
Suriya, Captain, Chennai Rhinos
' Played in his school cricket team at St Bede's School, Chennai
' Played in Loyola College's cricket team, Chennai
BOLLYWOOD
Salman Khan, Captain, Mumbai Heroes
' Has played at various friendly cricket matches across the world
' Organised a charity cricket match for the Being Human foundation at Dubai
' Organises cricket matches in the Bollywood circle quite often
' Organised and played in a cricket match against Shoaib Akhtar's Pakistani cricketers and actors in 2010
3,000
Number of workers who suffered because of shoot cancellations. They can gou00a0 nowhere, as they had been hired months in advance
