Shah Rukh, who played a hockey coach in "Chak De! India" and has lent his name to the Toyota University Cricket Championship, is co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a Twenty20 cricket championship started here in 2008.
The event serves as one of the biggest platforms for India's twin passions - cinema and cricket - to come together. Actresses Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta also own IPL franchises.
There are other stars associated with different sports - Sanjay Dutt backs the Super Fight League, Akshay Kumar supports the Hockey India League and hosts Kudo Tournaments, Salman Khan and a host of other actors promote the Celebrity Cricket League, Suniel Shetty owns a hockey team in World Series Hockey and Ranbir Kapoor keeps unofficially promoting football.