In Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, a Bollywood fluff piece made circa 2006, Abhishek Bachchan plays Rikki, a Chelsea fan and a Southall resident who meets the love of his life waiting for a train. Many songs and dances follow but the long and short of it was some of the film was shot at Stamford Bridge and Frank Lampard, John Terry, and Jose Mourinho were to have walk in parts. Rather than kick an own goal, Chelsea said thanks, but no thanks and that was that. Rikki did however get the girl after a dance off and he also got a Chelsea jersey with his name. Not bad, eh??

Now, Abhishek, the bedraggled son of Amitabh Bachchan, the original angry man of Indian cinema turned syrupy item number, is the proud owner or one of them, of the Chennai Titans. The Titans are one of eight sides in the newly minted Indian Super League, a sort of bastard child of the IPL and the MLS. A post post retirement stopover for former international super stars to conjugate with homegrown Indian talent. Think Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, David James, Luis Garcia, and others and ever wondered where they are? They are in India for the next three months which is how long the season will last. Kick off takes place Oct 16th and after a group stage, the top four clubs will meet in a two legged playoff, and then onto a November final.

Just like the IPL, the ISL have an array of high powered backers from the film world and former cricket players. Sachin Tendulkar, the master blaster, owns a piece of the Kerala Blasters. Yes, they took his name. Saurav Ganguly, the prince of Kolkata has his paws on Atletico De Kolkata and that my friends is not a mistake. Atletico De Madrid does have a stake in its Kolkata counterpart. We might see Diego Simeone in the stands at Salt Lake now with time on his hands after an eight match suspension. Other film personalities include Ranbir Kapoor part owner of the Mumbai City FC, Salman Khan operates FC Pune City along with the Serie’s Fiorentina, and John Abraham rescuing himself from the clutches of Bipasha Basu (or am I behind the times) to become owner of NorthEast United FC.

Which all means, Lampard, Terry, and Mourinho could land up in India and do Jhoom Barabar Jhoom Part 2. The question is will it help an Indian do a sliding tackle? India is footballing hell, the national team are pipsqueaks ranking 150th in the world, and as notorious underachievers, favoured to exit at the group stage in the upcoming Asian Games next month.