Pompoms in akhada: Kushti in age of WWF

Pompom meets langot, cheerleader meets pehelwan, catwalk meets clay. Welcome to kushti in the age of the World Wrestling Federation.At the a...

Pompom meets langot, cheerleader meets pehelwan, catwalk meets clay. Welcome to kushti in the age of the World Wrestling Federation.

At the all-India wrestling competition held here today, mud-smeared pehelwans dressed in traditional langots (loinclothes) walked down a 70-ft-long ramp to the ring, escorted by models, and to music played by Mumbai’s famous wedding band Astik. While the audience remained all-male, 32 female cheerleaders were present to root for the wrestlers. The akhada bore a new look too: raised to 4 ft above the ground, and laid with a foot-thick layer of clay.

If there was a strong hint of the schmaltzy but successful WWF, there were no complaints. Former wrestler and Uttar Pradesh kesari (champion) Keshav Singh pointed out that unlike the staged wrestling extravaganzas of America, Indian kushti wasn’t fixed. So it was a happy marriage of spectacle and tradition.

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‘‘We thought of bringing some novelty to the event,’’ said Mukesh Parav, representative of the main sponsor, the Congress party’s sport’s cell. ‘‘A kind of a trendsetter.’’

Opposition? There wasn’t any. ‘‘Mud wrestling should not remain untouched in the era of globalisation,’’ said Singh. ‘‘Our image needs to be changed.’’

Murtaza Khan, vice-president of the Bharatiya Kushti Mahasangh, also welcomed the glamour. ‘‘If any change is for the betterment of the sport, it is always welcome,’’ he reasoned.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the designation gives law enforcement “enhanced powers to combat a group that has instilled fear through violence and intimidation”.

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