Sleaze: Cricket's only hope....?

Isn't that the most innocent expression of eternal love? I found this lock ( along with dozens of other locks) at a popular Lover's Point along the Amalfi coast. Our dishy chauffeur told us the locks are brought there by courting couples to demonstrate their commitment to each other. It was so Romeo and Juliet, it took care of my cynicism ( for fifteen whole minutes!) and brought a smile to my face... sweeeeeet.
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The column below appeared in 'The Week' some weeks ago. Before the 'phoos' IPL started. Earlier today, the Mumbai Indians lost to the Pune team. Sure, it was a packed Wankhede stadium. But what everybody was talking about was Pune Captain Saurav Ganguly's kinky pic - he was caught with his pants down - literally. A rather perplexing photograph was published by the racy Mumbai Mirror, that showed Cricket's Dada exposing his bottom ( white undies), with his tracks pulled down to his knees. Agreed, it's beastly hot in Mumbai right now. But the other blokes in the picture had kept their pants on. What was Ganguly thinking? We've seen his bare chest ( unimpressive ), and now his semi-bared bum. Is Saurav a closet errrrr... exhibitionist? BTW, Harbhajan will be going flat out to prove what a terrific Captain he is...the guy has what it takes, so don't be surprised if he leads his team to victory ( never mind today's loss.... game abhi baaki hai).He's looking fit and able. It's called the Basra effect. Well, whatever she's doing, let's hope she does more of it and Mumbai Indians walk away with the trophy.
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Sleaze:Cricket’s only hope??
“ Media rocks in this country!” declared a heavily made up young woman wearing frightening cat eyed coloured lenses. It was clear from her body language, get up and well rehearsed script that she was going flat out to squeeze her five seconds in the limelight for all its worth. She chose to play ‘victim’ and talked about her ‘clean’ image. She added she was ‘really hurt’ to be dragged into such an unsavoury controversy. Of course, we lapped it all up. Cameramen zoomed in on her pumped up pout as she talked about taking ‘legal action’ against the wicked newspaper that had dared to sully her squeaky clean reputation by linking her to match fixing. Not a muscle moved on her face, her expression was frozen. She was the perfect ad for Botox. That is, if one wants to resemble a mask. By the end of her impromptu press conference, her name was in the public domain. Pretty much the entire country now knows who Nupur Mehta is – she was the oomphy starlet referred to by a bookie ( Vicky Seth) during yet another sting operation hoping to nail naughty cricketers throwing matches for money. Big money. Nupur was promptly dubbed a ‘honey trap’ by scoop-seeking tabloids and television channels. I doubt that Nupur Mehta is complaining!
Strange how sleaze throws up new headline grabbers who then go on to become dodgy celebrities by default. Nupur Mehta is the latest starlet to hit a sixer in her very first media match! Nupur’s hitherto non-existent career is made! Just like Veena Malik’s fortune went up by several lakhs after she ‘exposed’ her ex-boy friend, Pakistani cricketer Mohammed Asif, a few months ago. While nobody remembers her ex-, Veena Malik, a struggler from across the border, has gone on to bag several lucrative assignments in India. But what separates Veena from Nupur is that the Pakistani girl showed guts when she decided to expose her former boyfriend and in the process, took on the powerful Pakistani cricket board. Later, she also challenged the mullahs in her country after she was severely criticized for allegedly posing nude for an Indian magazine. ‘Badnaam’ though she is back home, she has found employment and professional respect in India, for which she is grateful. It remains to be seen what happens to Nupur. My guess is she will be invited to participate in the next season of the Bigg Boss, just as Veena Malik was. Once she becomes a familiar, household name in India, she will be flooded with offers to dance at NRI weddings and perform item numbers in movies. She may get to host her own show, and who knows, she may also get someone like Ram Gopal Varma to sign her up for a movie based on the match fixing scandal. These days, anything is possible, if the money is right. Frankly, I wouldn’t be at all shocked or surprised if the entire episode was staged by the bookie and Nupur. What had either of them to lose?
Notoriety used to be a desperate woman’s last resort in the old days. Today, our attitude has changed dramatically. Look at Monica Bedi. She was just the pretty girl friend of Abu Salem - one of India’s most dreaded gangsters. She did time in jail, got out, and resumed her interrupted showbiz career without missing a beat. Ekta Kapoor has just announced a movie based on the life of Mandakini, who was also known as a gangster’s moll. Some say she married Dawood and is the mother of his babies. Today, she lives a life of anonymity in suburban Mumbai. But for the right price, she may be persuaded to go public with her life with the D-Man.Will anybody be shocked? Naah. Brazening it out and capitalizing on ones misfortunes ( if they can be called that, in the first place!), has become a perfectly acceptable career option. The worse the story, the better.
As has been pointed out by sports’ journos, top ranking players the world over are extremely vulnerable. Attractive young girls have easy access to their hotel rooms.This has been happening for decades. Besides, when it comes to cricket, even a remote connection to Bollywood , raises the stakes substantially. Nobody had heard of Nupur till her sultry image cropped up in connection with yet another betting scandal. She was smart enough to grab the moment and milk it dry. There wasn’t a hair out of place when she gave those sound bytes with such aplomb. She’d probably figured this was her only shot at grabbing media attention…. and some juicy deals. She sweetly claimed she was a ‘lover of sports’. Well, now there’s a whole lot of action coming up for Nupur, the sports’ lover.And nobody thinks her life is sordid. Nupur is viewed as an entrepreneur, not an opportunist. And Nupur’s time starts now!
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P.S. I am indeed a masochist. I sat through Housefull -2. Yup. All two and a half dreadful hours of it. Spoilt my dinner and my mood in the bargain. I must be a sucker for self-inflicted pain.