SRK game for investing in hockey, football

NEW DELHI: It’s not just cricket. Shah Rukh Khan is keen on investing in other sports as well. SRK, who is coming back as a television host with a game show on Star Plus, has created a separate segment in his production company Red Chillies Entertainment called Red Entertainment Sports.

“I invested in cricket because there was an opportunity available. I think investment in sports should come through a sensible business plan. I think a lot needs to be done for propagating sports among youth. IPL is a new concept, let’s see how it works. In due course of time, I will invest in hockey and football and other sports,” said Shah Rukh Khan.

In a bid to create awareness about IPL, the actor is in the process of lining up plans about the concept. “I think ICL (Zee’s Indian Cricket League) couldn’t reach out to people and got lost. I have been talking to Vijay (Mallya), Mukesh bhai and Preity (Zinta) that we should all invest to create a buzz around IPL so that people are aware of it,” he added.

Mr Khan also plans to actively participate in marketing IPL’s Kolkata team—which he won in auction along with Juhi Chawla and Jai Mehta—and launch a full scale campaign. He said that he would take his team to Delhi, Mumbai and other cities to promote it. As far as signing players for his team was concerned, Mr Khan said he would take the decision with his team coach.

Besides cricket, SRK also plans to expand his production company Red Chillies Entertainment. Talking about the company’s future plans, he said, “Our company will make three movies, including one animation film. I may also act in some of them.” SRK’s company would also get into television production and is looking at increasing the head count of his company to 150 employees.

“We make movies and also plan to do creative programming for television. We also have an ad-sales division which creates 40-60 advertising films.” Asked whether he would rope in an international investor, SRK said, “We don’t need any funds as of now. I have no immediate plans for an IPO either.’’

Besides hosting a game show which will involve extensive interactions with kids, Mr Khan is also looking at making a movie for children. “I was trained by Barry John. He taught me that if I can’t sustain the interest level of kids, I can never become a good actor,” he said.

Star Plus will partner with Synergy Adlabs and Bulldog Media & Entertainment to bring the international format game show “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?” to India. The Indian version of the show — Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain? — will show SRK as a school teacher interviewing adults who would have kids of fifth grade and below as classmates. The prize money offered to the winner would be Rs 5 crore.

Talking about his decision to keep coming back to television, Mr Khan said that he is an entertainer and would like to perform on all platforms. He believes that television has started grabbing larger number of eyeballs and has an interactive element.

TNN