Arjun Rampal to open LAP in Mumbai; blames Indian cricketers for T- 20 failure

By Devansh Patel -

May 18, 2010 - 12:00 AM IST

Arjun Rampal to open LAP in Mumbai; blames Indian cricketers for T- 20 failure

Arjun is the happiest person on the planet as of now. The reasons - Housefull doing well, his next film is a sci-fi film Ra.One, and him opening his club LAP in Mumbai. On the flip side, he is sad too. The reason - 'IPL after party' controversy. But first, the happy moment.

Arjun Rampal is quite excited about opening his lounge bar LAP in Mumbai. On questioning him about his ongoing plans, he said, "I'd love to open LAP here in Mumbai. LAP is doing great in Delhi and it's time it sees its inception in this city. I am looking for the right area and space and have almost confirmed one as of now. Hopefully, if I confirm the location in the next few months, you might just see LAP opening by the end of this year in Mumbai or next year. I am excited and can't wait for the launch of LAP now." With location hunting for LAP, then off to the sets for his next film Ra.One with SRK, then off to home spending time with kids and wife, then off to the gym, then some tweets, then some business meetings and so on , Rampal is the busiest man in town. But what took us by surprise is the fact that he sounded a bit dejected too when we quizzed him on his wife's name and his being dragged into the cricketing controversies. Here's what followed.

England wins the ICC T-20 World Cup last night beating the Aussies. That's past. But the match still continues here in India as the Indian cricketers are under the scanner of the BCCI. Whether it's their failure at the recent T-20 world cup or the ongoing debate and controversies about the IPL, the Indian cricketers aren't the only ones facing the heat this summer. Take IPL for instance, the organising of IPL Parties saw the who's who of the cricketing world jamming with the Bollywood celebs and got the fans to interact one on one with the cricketers and their favourite celebrities. The media, the BCCI and few of the ex-Indian cricketers are also playing the blame game with the organisers, Arjun Rampal and wife Mehr Jessia Rampal for organising IPL parties. But guess what? Rampal is clearly blaming the cricketers for being irresponsible. In the recent chat we had with him a few days ago, Rampal quotes, "I own a night club. So definitely, I'll be the one who'll be promoting a lot of parties in and out of the town. But the fact of the matter is that all the players used to get three days off before their next game. IPL is more of a carnival. Fans got closer to the players and everybody enjoyed themselves. That was the motto of such parties. I don't think it's correct to say that 'It's the parties and therefore the Indian team hasn't done well at the recent failure at the ICC World Cup T-20'. I think it's the selection of the team which was not correct. Secondly, the other players like Chris Gayle, Michael Hussey, etc who came from International teams have come to IPL parties and went on to play good innings later in the World Cup T-20. I don't think that my wife and I are to be blamed for organising parties. That's silly and just an excuse to get away. Get the game right first. We were not forcing anyone to come to the parties. If my movies don't do well, I don't blame anybody else but myself."