Juhi Chawla at Ganga Kutir on Sunday evening. Picture by Aranya Sen

“It’s cricket, it’s entertainment and we will play to win,” announced Juhi Chawla, the co-owner of Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders, about the upcoming second season of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

The Bollywood actress flew into Calcutta on Sunday morning for the formal inauguration of Ganga Kutir, a resort and spa on the banks of the Hooghly in Raichak. Sri Lankan architect Channa Daswatte, who has designed the resort, is an old friend of Juhi and is also designing her house in Alibaug, on the skirts of Mumbai. “You can call it strangely divine because this is the city where we will be coming quite often once again,” smiled the lady in the pink salwar ensemble, accompanied by husband Jay Mehta.

Juhi, who was present at the player auction in Goa on Friday, believes that the new season of the IPL will be as popular as last time, if not more. “The buzz is already back and by the time the players take the field, everyone will be watching the matches again... at least, I am back following cricket after this yearlong break,” she said.

“Yes, it’s recession time and the world is not looking too good but we have the power to overcome it and move on.”

A Knight Riders victory would certainly make things brighter in this part of the world. “I am sure we would be better prepared this time,” Juhi said. “As far as the infrastructure on the match days goes (which is primarily co-ordinated by Jay), we have got very good support from Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya and his team and that would really help us.”

Five of the seven home matches of the Kolkata Knight Riders will be played at Eden Gardens, while two may be held in Cuttack. “We are still working on the options but Orissa is definitely a part of the catchment area. The same reason why we went for Mashrafe Mortaza in the auction. He is from Bangladesh and he is a bowler, which is perfect for us. We hope he would be able to fill the shoes of Shoaib Akhtar,” Juhi added.

The actress, who is excited about her “first-ever blonde look” in her latest release Luck By Chance, also revealed KKR’s off-field plans of 2009. “We are having a reality show on TV called Knights and Angels, where all the aspiring cheerleaders will be trained by Shiamak Davar. The best of the lot will be actually cheering for our team on the ground.”

And will we see the Rani Mukerjis and the Bipasha Basus finally donning the black-and-gold jerseys and rooting for the Knight Riders at Eden this time? “You give me a list of people you want from Mumbai... we will try and get them here,” Juhi signed off.