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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same...

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same narrative unfolded on a cricket field, the reaction would have been dramatically different. In cricket, even defeat often becomes a story of heroism. A hard-fought loss by the Indian team can dominate television debates, fill newspaper columns and trend across social media for days. A player who narrowly misses a milestone is still hailed for his fighting spirit. The nation rallies around its cricketers not only in victory but also in defeat. The narrative quickly shifts from the result to the effort -- the resilience shown, the fight put up, the promise of future triumph. This emotional investment is one of the reasons cricket enjoys unparalleled popularity in India. It has built a culture where players become household names and their performances, good or bad, become part of the national conversation. Badminton Fights Contrast that with what happens in sports like badminton. Reaching the final of the All England Championships is a monumental achievement. The tournament is widely considered badminton’s equivalent of Wimbledon in prestige and tradition. Only the very best players manage to reach its final stages, and doing it twice speaks volumes about Lakshya Sen’s ability and consistency. Yet the reaction in India remained largely subdued. There were congratulatory posts, some headlines acknowledging the effort and brief discussions among badminton enthusiasts. But the level of national engagement never quite matched the magnitude of the achievement. In a cricketing context, reaching such a stage would have triggered days of celebration and analysis. In badminton, it often becomes just another sports update. Long Wait India’s wait for an All England champion continues. The last Indian to win the title was Pullela Gopichand in 2001. Before him, Prakash Padukone had scripted history in 1980. These victories remain among the most significant milestones in Indian badminton. And yet, unlike cricketing triumphs that are frequently revisited and celebrated, such achievements rarely stay in the mainstream sporting conversation for long. Lakshya Sen’s journey to the final should ideally have been viewed as a continuation of that legacy, a reminder that India still possesses the talent to challenge the world’s best in badminton. Instead, it risks fading quickly from public memory. Visibility Gap The difference ultimately comes down to visibility and cultural investment. Cricket in India is not merely a sport; it is an ecosystem built over decades through media attention, sponsorship, and mass emotional attachment. Individual sports, on the other hand, often rely on momentary bursts of recognition, usually during Olympic years or when a medal is won. But consistent performers like Lakshya Sen rarely receive the sustained spotlight that their achievements deserve. This disparity can also influence the next generation. Young athletes are naturally drawn to sports where success brings recognition, financial stability and national fame. When one sport monopolises the spotlight, others struggle to build similar appeal. Beyond Result Lakshya Sen may have finished runner-up again, but his performance at the All England Championship is a reminder that India continues to produce world-class athletes in disciplines beyond cricket. The real issue is not that cricket receives immense attention -- it deserves the admiration it gets. The concern is that athletes from other sports often do not receive comparable appreciation for achievements that are equally significant in their own arenas. If India aspires to become a truly global sporting nation, its applause must grow broader. Sporting pride cannot remain confined to one field. Because somewhere on a badminton court, an athlete like Lakshya Sen is fighting just as hard for the country’s colours as any cricketer on a packed stadium pitch. The only difference is how loudly the nation chooses to cheer.

"Delist me, but give me my audience": Kunal Kamra to BookMyShow



Just days after ticketing platform BookMyShow removed Kunal Kamra’s content and dropped his name from its list of performers, the stand-up comedian has issued an open letter, requesting the platform to share the contact details of audiences who attended his shows.


In a post shared on X, Kamra said he understands that BookMyShow has to “maintain a cordial relationship with the state, and I know that Mumbai is a major hub for live entertainment.” He added, “Without the state’s cooperation, iconic shows like Coldplay and Guns N’ Roses wouldn’t be possible.”


He continued, “However, the issue at hand isn’t about whether you can or will delist me – it’s about your exclusive right on listing our shows. By not allowing artists to list their shows through their own websites, you’ve effectively prevented me from accessing the audience I’ve performed for from 2017 to 2025.”


BookMyShow, run by Bigtree Entertainment Private Limited, removed Kamra’s content and delisted him following backlash over a parody song targeting Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. During a performance at Mumbai’s Habitat studio, Kamra sang a version of ‘Bholi Si Surat’, a song from Dil To Pagal Hai, in which he called Mr. Shinde a ‘gaddar’ (traitor).


Mr. Shinde had led a political revolt that split the Shiv Sena and led to the fall of Uddhav Thackeray’s government in 2022. Since then, Mr. Thackeray and his allies have repeatedly labeled Shinde a ‘gaddar’.


In response to Kamra’s parody, Shinde’s supporters vandalised the Habitat studio, a popular venue for stand-up acts. The studio, located in Khar, later shut down operations, clarifying that it does not control show content. The next day, civic authorities demolished parts of the building, citing violations of building regulations. However, the timing raised suspicions that the move was related to the Kamra controversy. Multiple cases have been filed against the comedian, and after skipping three summons, he has been granted interim protection from arrest by the Madras High Court.


Kamra also questioned BookMyShow’s business practices, saying, “You take a 10% cut of the revenue for listing shows, which is your business model. However, this raises an important point: No matter how big or small a comedian is, we are all compelled to spend between 6,000 to 10,000 rupees a day on advertising to reach our own audience. This cost is an additional burden that we, as artists, must bear.”


He then made a direct appeal: “What I’m requesting is simple: please ensure that you hand over the contact information of the audiences you’ve collected from my solo shows so that I can continue living my life with dignity and work towards a fair livelihood. As a solo artist, especially in the world of comedy, we are both the show and the production. For instance, if I performed at the Pune Comedy Festival with 30 other artists, that would be considered comedy’s collective data. But my solo shows – that’s my audience. The least I deserve, should you choose to delist me, is access to them.”


He concluded, “With that in mind, I request one of the following: Do not delist me, or Provide me with the data (contact information) I’ve generated through your platform from my audience. Thank you for your understanding.” Kamra also noted that while BookMyShow might cite data protection concerns, “the question of who protects what data, and from whom, is a much broader conversation”.


Earlier, Sena leader Rahool Kanal had appealed to BookMyShow to deny Kamra a platform. After the delisting, he thanked the portal, saying, “Thank you for keeping your portal clean and keeping such artists out of the list of pure entertainment, because we all being Mumbaikars love and believe in every form of art but not personal agendas.”

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