Sad start; SRK saves the night for IPL

Chennai: The evening sky over the MA Chidambaram Stadium may have been lit up with dazzling fireworks but the opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League 4 did not impress too many connoisseurs. At least Lalit Modi was not too happy with the start of the championship.

'Sad to see the way the opening ceremony was conducted. Well, I am sure the Games will be better. So let's hope they will overcome the start,' the former IPL chairman said on his Twitter page. He would not elaborate.

After opening speeches from IPL chairman Chirayu Amin and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar, the cash-rich event was declared open but surely not with a bang. The speeches were followed by a performance from the Prince Dance Group. The sounds and lights, at times, looked out of sync with the dancers, painted from head to toe in saffron, green and white. A percussion show by Taufiq Qureishi's Mumbai Stamp followed but that did not pick up the tempo as such.

The singing trio of Sona Mohapatra, Aakriti Kakkar and Manasi Scott sang Aa Dekhen Zara from yesteryears' hit movie Rocky, but it didn't look to connect with the crowd here. Raghav Sachar's Angel Eyes had little impact. Kunal Gaanjawala then took the stage to an unknown rendition called World Hold On. But the biggest goof-up of the night was yet to come.

Sunidhi Chauhan was at the centre of the biggest faux pas of the opening ceremony. The spectators at the stadium wouldn't have noticed it surely, but millions of TV viewers would have had a hearty laugh and many happily tweeted about it too. The 28-year old singer was to lip-sync on her chartbuster track Dhoom Machaale from the movie Dhoom.

On her entry to the stage, she was busy doing some dance step as the track started playing in background. All what Chauhan was seen doing was holding the mike and to save her day, she then turned around and started the lip synching in tandem, but the goof-up was already registered in the minds of many.

The conclusive segment of the ceremony was the saving grace. Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan's performance easily became the talking point of the show. Shah Rukh entertained the crowd by saying a few lines in Tamil and his dance show also included some magic before he performed to an array of songs with Shriya Saran. He performed on some Bollywood hits, but the clincher was when he got his steps right on Tamil numbers Nakka Mukka, Appadi Podu Podu and Ringa Ringa.