Premier League Match Screening, Ranveer Singh & A Very Happy Wife


In February 2018, our team organized The Football Movement conference in coordination with the Premier League and UK Department of International Trade.  And while all of us involved with putting the conference together were looking forward to a few days of knowledge sharing, networking and partnership discussions, our family and friends were mainly excited about the fact that Bollywood Superstar and Premier League Ambassador, Ranveer Singh, was planning to attend a part of the event.  My wife was definitely one of those excited individuals and she nearly re-scheduled an important function so that she could drive to Mumbai just to catch a glimpse or possibly even take a cheap selfie with one of India’s most talented and irreverent actors. In the end, she chose professional responsibilities over celebrity stalking and was extremely jealous when I sent her this picture just seconds after it was clicked:


Now fast forward almost 1 year. It's February 2019 and Avantika and I are driving across the Sealink bridge taking in the beautiful view of Mahim Bay and singing along to the Gully Boy soundtrack. We had watched the Bollywood film a few days earlier and were in love with everything about the movie, especially Ranveer Singh’s performance. We are on our way to Phoenix High Street to attend a Star Sports screening of the Manchester United vs Liverpool FC match – one that my colleagues were organizing.  I’m already frustrated as we are running behind schedule when all of a sudden a whatsapp video pops up on my phone. I open it and see Ranveer Singh at the screening on stage rapping to the hordes of football supporters in attendance.  I can’t believe it, first that I didn’t even realize that he was going to be at the screening and, second, that we were going to miss seeing him. With deep hesitation, I showed the video to Avantika and she was a mixture of shocked, confused and sad. 

We spend the next 20 minutes driving through South Bombay in silence, angry with ourselves for not sticking to our schedule and getting to the screening on time. Not that we even knew that Ranveer would be there, but just the thought of missing out on seeing him on stage due to our own procrastination was quite frustrating.  We eventually made it to the entrance of the screening and fortunately ran into one of my colleagues at the gate who gave us Lounge Pass wristbands so that we could watch the match in a more comfortable space. We walked through the swarms of red-clad football supporters and finally made it to the Star Sports Executive Lounge. 

As we walk through the Lounge, I wave to various industry friends secretly annoyed that they were able to watch Ranveer rap live while we were listening to a recorded version in the car.  We make our way through the Lounge and on the far side I see a small area which is roped off. I look in and see my colleague Saurabh, my colleague Arnold and two of my closest friends in the industry, Kate and Hemant, just chilling with Ranveer Singh.  They see Avantika and I, request the security to take down the rope to let us in and immediately introduce both of us to Ranveer.  Then Kate takes Avantika and sets her up on the couch so that her and Ranveer can talk while watching the match.  Avantika, like a pro, immediately jumps into a conversation with him about his wife Deepika’s Foundation and Mental Health.

I was sitting nearby with Hemant and Saurabh watching the whole scene in total awe.  I just couldn’t believe that within the matter of 30 minutes we went from shock, self-loathing & anger thinking that we missed Ranveer’s performance to Avantika sitting with him discussing a topic which is dear to her heart while curious onlookers and paparazzi click photo after photo.  To top it all off, Ranveer went back on stage at half-time, rapped again and played FIFA on the massive screen.  Total legend.

There was this beautiful moment that evening, right after someone handed me a chilled locally brewed beer. I took a sip of the tasty beverage, looked up and saw Manchester United playing against Liverpool FC on the big screen, hundreds of football lovers chanting below me, my wife in deep conversation with her favourite Bollywood actor and my colleagues enjoying a quick beer to celebrate the execution of another successful event. At that moment all felt right in my world and I understood that I didn’t choose to work in sports because of these moments however these moments are possible because I chose to work in sports.  





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