Shah Rukh Khan's KKR strongest IPL brand; worth Rs 104 crores

Despite their poor cricket performance, the Kolkata Knight Riders have emerged as the strongest IPL brand. UK based brand valuation company Intangible Business, in collaboration with MTI Consulting, have just released the IPL Brand Value Scoreboard 2009 - a valuation aimed at measuring the strengths of the right IPL Franchises

Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), with a brand value of $22 million (approximately Rs 104 crores) tops the Brand Value Table, closely followed by Delhi Daredevils, which is valued at $19 million, Chennai Super Kings at $18 million and Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai Indians at $17 million. Last year's winners Rajasthan Royals are at the bottom of the table with a value of $10 million.

Intangible Business international director Richard Yoxon says, "Winning games is not enough to build a successful sports brand. Teams need to engage the local community, attract star players who inspire a wide audience and develop a strong marketing communications programme."

Further explaining the rationale and methodology, MTI Consulting CEO Hilmy Cader says, "Brand values are a reflection of a brand's ability to generate future income. It is a forward looking study that uses historic performance and future trends to predict future activity. 2008 publicly available sales data was gathered for each franchise. To determine the strength of the brands, each brand was scored on a series attributes that underpin the power and reach of the each brand. These attributes are a mixture of hard measures and soft measures of brand strength sourced from publically available information and from a qualitative panel of cricket fans from each test playing nation. Using this data, each brand was then valued using the relief-from-royalty methodology."

Significant sums have been invested in acquiring the team franchises and the race is on to capture the hearts and minds of cricket fans to develop a strong club culture modelled on the success of the world's most popular sports brands. While the playing squads will change and the success of each team will fluctuate over time, the brand is the constant that unites supporters and is ultimately responsible for driving the long-term commercial sustainability and success of the IPL franchises.

Salman: I don’t have a problem with Shah Rukh

For the first time, Salman Khan directly spoke about his famous spat with Shah Rukh Khan at Katrina Kaif’s birthday bash last year. The duo has been warring after an alleged argument concerning their respective shows’ popularity erupted into a brawl.

We asked Salman, who is all set to host Dus Ka Dum’s season 2, whether he would object to Shah Rukh Khan being a special guest on his show. He coolly said, “If Sony brings him then he is more than welcome. Agar woh a gaye toh who khush naseeb hai. If Shah Rukh and Sony both wants to do an episode together then I don’t have a problem with it. It’s not a big deal.” But he also added, “Even if I did (have a problem with Khan), I wouldn’t discuss it publicly.”

Shah Rukh’s show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hai will not have a second season so clearly Salman is having the last laugh now. To this, he says, “I wish for everyone to do well, whether they are doing TV shows or films. If our work does not happen, how will the media and others get work. Kabhi kabhi Aamir ka bhi naam le lo meri maa. He is also collecting lots of money at the box office.”

There was news of a film project that hoped to bring the three powerful Khans (Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman) together. To this, Salman suggest, “They should bring two of us together at a time. Like Shah Rukh-Aamir, me–Aamir, me-Shah Rukh,” while drilling in again, “I do not have a problem working with Shah Rukh. I am not getting married to him! You should ask him too whether he wants to do these projects or not.”

It will be interesting to see whether the channel dares to use SRK as an option for a special guest on DKD. Salman might act the thorough professional now, with his calm exterior, but he’s known for his temper tantrums on the sets.

Shah Rukh Khan on the cover of Blender

The 'King Khan' of Bollywood never fails to make heads swivel, be it when he sets the screens ablaze with his performances or off screen with his charisma and quick wit. This month's issue of the music and entertainment magazine 'Blender' features the 'Baadshah of Bollywood' Shah Rukh Khan on the cover.

The May issue of 'Blender' gives the reader a glimpse into the life of the ever busy and bubbling SRK, and even talks about his well known skill of multi-tasking. Throwing other facts like SRK being the star with the maximum number of endorsements under his belt, the issue evidently becomes a must buy. Also, in this exclusive interview, SRK talks about his IPL experience which has now become a hot favourite topic of discussion.

Adding to this already heady concoction of gyaan from the Bollywood sovereign Khan, are some of rock world's best kept secrets and behind the scenes with rock's greatest groupies. With all this rolled into one, the May issue of 'Blender' is simply intoxicating!

Shah Rukh names his sci-fi thriller

It was widely reported by the media that Shah Rukh Khan will don the greasepaint for a super hero role in his next film. Incidentally, this film is to be directed by the King Khan’s production house Red Chillies Entertainment.

The creative actor has named this science fiction film as RA-1. Sources close to the actor-producer say that it means - The Egyptian Sun God. RA-1 will be directed by Anubhav Sinha. Shah Rukh has also roped in cameraman Manikandan to handle the camera. The man behind the camera, Manikandan said that he will do a thorough research before starting this venture as he wants to bring out the best for this sci-fi thriller.