2023 began with a bang for the Hindi film industry and the year is expected to end on another high with Shah Rukh Khan responsible for both. Pathaan became all-time blockbuster for Indian cinema before Jawan breached its record and the Bollywood superstar is gearing up for Dunki and the fans, the industry and all the stakeholders hope that the Rajkumar Hirani directorial breaks both records.
On the eve of the release, SRK engaged with the fans in yet another #AskSRK session on X (formerly Twitter) and the co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was asked about the most expensive pick in IPL auction history by his franchise, Mitchell Starc. KKR splurged INR 24.75 crore ($2.975 million) to acquire the services of the Australian pacer, who is set to return to the IPL after eight long years.
Among the questions asked, there was a bizarre one where a fan asked SRK about the difference between Starc’s auction price and the Day 1 collection of Dunki. The question was weird but Shah Rukh responded in his own witty style saying that whatever his film collects, he will get that money (since he is the producer as well) but in Starc’s case, he and KKR paid the amount.
With the film clashing with Prabhas-starrer Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire, the hype for the two Christmas releases is immense and the industry hopes that both work at the box office. As far as KKR are concerned, the two-time champions had the most slots to fill – 12 – and they were able to fill 10 of them with nine players apart from Starc being sold at base price.
Kolkata Knight Riders full squad
Retained: Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora
Bought in auction: KS Bharat (INR 50 Lakh), Chetan Sakariya (INR 50 Lakh), Mitchell Starc (INR 24.75 Cr), Angkrish Raghvanshi (INR 20 Lakh), Ramandeep Singh (INR 20 Lakh), Sherfane Rutherford (INR 1.5 cr), Manish Pandey (INR 50 Lakh), Mujeeb ur Rahman (INR 2 cr), Gus Atkinson (INR 1 cr), Sakib Hussain (INR 20 Lakh)