Chris Gayle batting on a different pitch

Whether or not he’ll “take Bollywood away from actor Salman Khan,” like he jokingly claimed while revealing his interest to act in Indian films, cricketer Chris Gayle surely seems to have swept Sandalwood off its feet! The industry is going gaga over the star cricketer’s sportive spirit and friendly nature ever since he obliged to actively participate in the promotions of Kannada film, Khiladi Kitty that is due for release this Friday. On his recent visit to the city, not only did he launch the audio of the film but left impressed with the trailers, even agreed to sign 100 cricket bats to be given away to audiences who’d come to watch the film on the first day.

“The film will be screened in over 25 theatres in Bangalore and we plan to hold a contest in each theatre through which winners will be selected and presented with the bats,” explains Ananth Raj, the film’s director.

Gayle has even agreed to feature in print, television and radio advertisements we notice, but how did the team manage to rope the cricketer in for promotional activities? “Our producer once represented the state as a cricketer and he used his contacts to get Gayle to promote our film. Gayle is a friendly person and extremely fun loving. You’ll find him cracking jokes almost all the time. May be that’s why he enjoyed some of the comedy situations in the film when we explained it to him,” says Ananth. Gayle also liked the songs and thought they were very well shot, he adds.

Khiladi Kitty is a comedy starring Srinagara Kitty, Hariprriya and Nivedita in the lead. Dilip Raj, Rangayana Raghu and Sharan are also part of the cast.