Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders will stride into the Indian Premier League not wearing black and gold - as worn for the last two years, but dark purple and gold. His cheerleaders too will be a mix of foreigners and Indians and will sport the team's colours of dark purple and gold with a dash of lilac in it.
MiD Day imaging
"Yes the colours of the KKR team and cheerleaders have changed," Shah Rukh told MiD Day last night.
Manish Malhotra who has designed the KKR cheerleaders' outfits (and the new KKR team jersey as he has been doing for the last couple of years) said, "There will be 12 cheerleaders in each match and I have been asked to design 96 cheerleader outfits as all cheerleaders might not be repeated in all the matches."
He added, "This year the cheerleaders' outfits will be according to the team's colours - brinjal purple with a hint of lilac and gold. There are no accessories except gold tassels hanging from the drawstrings of the shorts. The girls will be wearing special dull gold shoes. The jersey will be a long sleeveless sporty top with fitted long shorts below. The shorts will be above the knee.”
In 2009, NDTV Imagine and Red Chillies extended their partnership with a reality show, Knights and Angels where auditions for cheerleaders were conducted across the country with six girls being selected for the cheerleading squad. This year, Shahrukh along with KKR members handpicked girls from all over India and abroad. The girls wore black and gold jerseys with short skirts.