Kolkata: Legendary Sachin Tendulkar along with his one-time opening partner Sourav Ganguly will be once again seen together along with Bollywood A Listers like Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and some of the other prominent actors like John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan at the opening ceremony of the cash-rich Indian Super League.
The team co-owners and marquee players would be introduced at the glittering opening ceremony on Sunday and all the eight franchises have been allotted one-minute slot each to showcase their traditional songs and dance.
Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai City FC are pitted against each other in the opening match while the remaining six along with their respective teams would form a circle with the main stage in the centre where Bollywood actors Priyanka Chopra and Varun Dhawan would perform.
Percussionist Bickram Ghosh would represent Kolkata while Sivamani would lead Chennaiyin FC.
"The Bengal theme would use 14-15 instruments and it would showcase Bengal folk with a touch of classical table in the end," Ghosh told PTI.
Punjabi dhol would be the them of Delhi Dynamos who have roped in dhol artist Hanif Aslam Dafrani, who has earlier performed for many Bollywood songs like Kajra Re, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.
"We have come with 21 member-troupe and there would be Bhangra of course, it would be a delight," Aslam said.
Puneri 'dhol tasha' which is famous during Ganapati immersion would be part of the FC Pune City, while Kerala Blasters have brought in Malayalam music composer Ronnie Raphael.
"We would perform a fusion of pancha vadyam and singari melam, Kerala's traditional song and dance sequence. It's amazing to be part of this. I'm really proud to be associated with a team which has Sachin Tendulkar as co-owner," he said.
