For a India vs Pakistan game nothing is left to chance, even those involved in the logistics of the pre-game entertainment are following a process and believe in repetition to perfect their routine.
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A temporary 40×36 metre stage needs to be dismantled and carried from the training lawns to the storage space under the stadium roof. The 100-odd strong men have 9 minutes to complete their task, they finish in 4. The rehearsal is a roaring success.
The sweaty men and their handler break into a noisy celebration.
On the D-Day, between Bollywood’s playback stars Shankar Mahadevan singing on the stage and openers dancing down the track, the team will have 15 minutes to clear the ground.
The workers are more excited to see the cricketers since they are used to being around film stars. The man in-charge of the team, the show’s art director, is Prashant Vichare. He was assistant to the late Nitin Desai and now runs his own firm called Jasmine Arts.
Vichare is inspecting the plastic mesh that is spread on the lawn on which the stage stood a few minutes back. His firm specialises in sporting events besides being involved in top Bollywood projects. “We have a stage that can take the weight of close to 200 people but it doesn’t damage the turf below. We have done the IPL and WPL opening ceremonies and will now go for the Goa National Games,” says Vichare who worked for films like Lagaan, Jodha Akbar and Jawan.
There are some workers who say that their only previous cricket experience was Lagaan, the Aamir Khan starrer about a village team getting the better of Englishmen in a cricket game during the days of the Raj. “As compared to Lagaan this is nothing, we were in Bhuj for 6 months, we had to build an entire village. Jodha Akbar was also tough but its sets were up only in the film city,” says Vichare.
In his team there are 23 workers from Mumbai, many of them Tamil origin, and 60 from Ahmedabad. Those from Mumbai have experience of the film industry.
“We just did work on Jawan,” say Tamilselvan and Gopal. “Shahrukh Khan was so nice. You remember the Chinese characters, they were all in Aarey colony in Mumbai. Shahrukh would come and chat with us. That movie had a Tamil director and Tamil art director too.”
Tamilselvan reckons the stadium work on Saturday will be a breeze.
“You saw our trial run? 4 minutes to set up. That’s all. Inside the ground, the distance will be slightly longer but I don’t foresee any problem,” he says as he bends down and feels the grass. “This is supposed to be some sensitive pure grass. Hence we are using the mesh sheet, over which we build our stage.”
The grass on the central square was the focal point when the Indian coach Rahul Dravid and his team of support staff landed early in the afternoon.
They had a long chat with the curator and the Gujarat Cricket Association officials. Later in the day, under lights, the Pakistan pacers — Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf — were also seen doing the pitch inspection. As the cliche goes the stage is set, and also dismantled, for this World Cup’s biggest game.
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