Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 28, 2016)

Salman Khan will take off to Ahmedabad on Friday to cheer his brother Sohail Khan's celebrity cricket team. Joining him will be Sunny Deol who will unveil a new teaser of Ghayal Once Again. Sunny's younger brother Bobby quietly turned 49 yesterday. He is one of the ace bowler of Mumbai Heroes and a big birthday bash is being planned for him with a cake, irrespective of who wins or loses.

"The entire team, including captain Riteish Deshmukh and players, Suniel Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Shabbir Ahluwalia, along with Salman and Sunny are being hosted by Apoorva Lakhia whose mom is preparing a lavish lunch for the entire team. They will all fly back together on Sunday," a team member revealed.

Now, that's what we call team spirit!

Upala KBR (DNA; January 13, 2016)


Says a source, “The Mumbai Heroes team comprising Bobby Deol, Ritesh Sidhwani, Sohail Khan, Aftab Shivdasani and Suniel Shetty, have been sweating it out of late playing rigorous cricket for their upcoming season. Recently, during one of the practice matches, since the game was a crucial and intense match, the atmosphere was heated so a volley of cuss words were doing the rounds on field.”

It was then to ease the tension and lighten up the game, that Suniel came up with a suggestion during the break. “He told the team that for every swear word mouthed by any player, the player would have to cough up a fine of Rs 5000 and the same would be given to charity. The money would go to Mumbai Heroes’s own charity, Mumbai Heroes Charity.”

Suniel adds, “I am a Mumbai street boy so I think I will give the maximum gaalis where bowling and batting are concerned so everybody just hang on! As long as I collect funds for the needy, it doesn’t matter.

Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; January 11, 2016)

Rumours of Huma Qureshi and Sohail Khan’s romance have kept gossip mills buzzing for nearly a year. The two reportedly came close after she was signed on as the face of the actor-producer’s franchise, Mumbai Heroes in the Celebrity Cricket League. But now we hear the curvy actress has been replaced by Kriti Sanon as the team’s brand ambassador.

While his wife Seema recently went on record to say that she does not think there is anything special between Sohail and Huma, rumours insist that he has showered lavish gifts on the actress and the list includes a house and a car. Huma, on her part, also rubbished the link-up buzz and said that Sohail was like an elder brother to her.

Vikas Kapoor, a co-owner of Mumbai Heroes, says signing Kriti as the franchise’s new face is purely a management call. “Every year, we bring a new brand ambassador on board, hence the change. For the first year, we had Sonakshi Sinha, followed by Kangana Ranaut, Chitrangada Singh, Lisa Haydon for the second, third and fourth seasons. Last year, it was Huma and now, we have Kriti,” he says.

We, however, wonder if the annual tradition of appointing a new brand ambassador is mere coincidence!

Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; March 5, 2014)

The slam bang Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) will soon make its debut on the silver screen. Vishnu Vardhan Induri, founder and MD of CCL, has disclosed plans of making a film on cricket and the star cast would comprise a majority of actors, who are part of the tournament.

While the story is almost ready, the director is expected to be finalised soon. “Around 70 per cent of the cast would be culled from various teams of CCL. Whoever directs the film will take a call on the lead roles,” said Vishnu.

A source aware of this development said the names of Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Shimit Amin were doing the rounds for the director’s chair.

CCL, which commenced in 2011, features eight teams consisting of film actors from major regional film industries.

The idea of this film has apparently been conveyed to the CCL players but none has been approached officially as yet.

Explaining why a large chunk of the star cast will be from league itself, Vishnu said, “We are making a commercial film on cricket and will require actors who understand the game. Most actors who know how to play cricket are part of CCL.” Will the film feature actresses, who are brand ambassadors of the various teams? “If they fit the bill, why not?” replied Vishnu.

From being blamed for Gutthi's exit to being accused of starry tantrums and holding the channel to ransom, Kapil Sharma has his plate full. The popular TV host, who is now all set to turn actor, clears the air
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 27, 2014)

ALLEGATION 1: It’s being said that you want Comedy Nights with Kapil to air only once a week so that you can focus on films and the channel is upset with your decision. 
That's true. The original plan was a 26-episode run without a break after which we would evaluate our next step. The response was so overwhelming that we continued to roll. But having a bi-weekly show is too much of pressure. Besides being the host, I am the show’s producer too and involved with every creative aspect and can’t let the quality fall.

Now that I have signed a film (Bank-Chor), it will be difficult to devote so much time to the show. I have communicated my decision to the channel. I hope they understand and take a call. 

ALLEGATION 2: Your differences with Sunil Grover, who played Gutthi on the show, eventually lead to his exit and you were left without one of your principal players. 
I don’t know who started this rumour that Sunil and I had problems. In fact, he called me on Monday after hearing that I am laid low with a back problem. We still talk, and very warmly too. What more do I need to say to put this controversy to rest once and for all? The reason he left my show was because he was getting many attractive offers and decided to move on.  

ALLEGATION 3: You aren’t too impressed with his new show, Mad in India 100% Desi Show.
It lacks charm. It was promoted as Gutthi’s show, but it has far more characters than I have in my show. Sunil had a better platform with me. There was something special when we worked together. I even had a chat with him on this before he left. 

ALLEGATION 4: You walked out of the inaugural event of the Cricket Celebrity League because you were not given a vanity van.
I have a back problem which tends to recur every six months. I had been shooting through the night and headed straight to the stadium. I needed a place to change. I was asking simply for the basic amenities. Then, my back pain aggravated and I was forced to leave. The next day the headlines were screaming, ‘Kapil ne liya Salman se panga.’ Baap re! 

ALLEGATION 5: Reportedly, you were rude to Kangana Ranaut when she came on your show as a guest.
I had a different perception of Kangana before I met her. But I found her to be really sweet. She was very sporting about the jokes too.

ALLEGATION 6: Seems you have grown too big for your boots and keep stars waiting on the sets of your show for hours.
If that is true the world would have ended by now. How can I make a star wait? If any delay happened, it must have because I was busy with my team or looking into some backstage details.

Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; February 8, 2014)

Kapil Sharma first shot to fame with the TV show, Comedy Circus, where he won over everyone with his comic timing.

He then hosted Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa's last season before starting his own show, Comedy Nights with Kapil, on same channel. There are also reports that he has been signed by Yash Raj Films for one of their film projects.

Indeed in the seven months since he started his own show, Sharma’s fame has reached newer heights. But his rise has been accompanied by controversy too. For starters, there’s Sunil Grover, who played the hugely popular character of Gutthi in his show. Grover quit the show to pursue bigger dreams, dealing Sharma’s show a big blow. In fact, his show’s creative team had apparently planned to sue Sunil for taking the character to rival channel. The makers also tried to convince Sunil to come back but that never happened either, and Kapil then introduced newer characters his show.

This episode was followed by another one where Sharma was allegedly accused of service tax evasion to the tune of Rs 60 lakh. Then came news about Kapil walking out of Celebrity Cricket League (CCL)’s first match for which he had allegedly been paid a whopping amount of Rs 1.25 crore. An eyewitness said that Kapil and his staff threw tantrums at the venue, leaving the event organisers furious.

Now buzz has it that Kapil holds his staff responsible for the CCL fiasco. Says a source, “Kapil and his friend Preeti Simoes were in Dubai for the CCL tournament and he was heard blaming his staff for the drama that unfolded during the first match. He even snapped at Preeti in front of other people and held her accountable for it. One could sense the rising tensions between the two.” While Kapil didn’t reply to our messages and calls, Preeti — who allegedly looks into his professional commitments — denied the news. “I don’t manage his commitments, rather I work on the show. I have no connection with CCL either, so there is no tension between the two of us over this issue,” she said.

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 23, 2014)

The sponsors were ready and so were the audience. The event was an international football match in Dubai with Bollywood’s leading men, including Ranbir Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan, kicking the ball-- all in the name of charity.

The duo was all set to reach Dubai on January 31 for the match organised by Bunty Walia at the Al Wasl stadium. But, at the last hour the game has hit a roadblock, by the name of Sohail Khan.

Buzz is, Sohail was miffed when he learnt about the Abhi-Ranbir match because his team, Mumbai Heroes, was supposed to play their second CCL (Celebrity Cricket League) match at the same venue the very next day (February 1). According to a source, Sohail immediately sent out a loud and clear message to Bunty that he couldn’t host a game of football a day before his cricket match as some of the players in the football team -Aditya Roy Kapur, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Samir Kocchar- were also a part of Sohail’s team. By then, Bunty was set to fly to Dubai with the team and had even lined up his sponsors. “There was a lot of buzz around the match because this would have been the first time Dubai saw Ranbir and Abhishek in action, live, on a football ground,” points out the source.

Arguing for Sohail, the source says, “Last time, Sonu Sood injured his leg. God forbid, if anything had happened to Aditya, Shabbir or Samir on the football field, what would have happened to Sohail’s league match? Even otherwise, the trio would not have been able to give their 100 per cent a day after a strenuous 90-minute football match.”

So when Sohail contacted Bunty, he took some time but eventually relented.When contacted, Bunty confirmed the news saying, “We have postponed our football match in Dubai. It doesn’t make sense to clash with members of your own fraternity.”