Most of the papers I looked at this morning led their front pages with pictures of the various stars and dignitaries who attended the Wankhede. Yes, there was a mention of the farcical floodlight failure in Kolkata and even a comment or two about the cricket. But what the readers wanted, the editors duly provided. The caption under the main snap on the front page of the Mumbai Mirror started with “Film producer Yash Chopra with Nita Ambani; actors Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor; Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun; Mumbai Indians owner Mukesh Ambani with wife Nita,” and continued in a similar vein.

This, then, is the inevitable by-product of the hype. The great, the good and the frankly rather tedious all know that a slice of the IPL action can add a few lakhs on their brand value. The cricket uses the celebs to feel good about itself; the celebs use the cricket to stay in the headlines. It is a symbiosis of a particularly cynical kind.

It can be dangerous too. At Eden Gardens a 38-year-old fan called Mohammed Selim fell from one tier of the stands to another as he leant too far in search of a glimpse of – who else? – Shah Rukh Khan. He was hurt rather than badly injured, but it was tempting to consider what the equivalent injury in county cricket would be. Eighty-year-old slips disc lifting pint of real ale? Pensioner cricks neck sleeping through entire day’s play? Teenager shellshocked by absence of anyone under 50?

OK, I’m being cruel. But the more you immerse yourself in the IPL, the wider your eyes become. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve just heard that Shah Rukh Khan is about to appear on five different TV channels at the same time and I have an important decision to make …