Actor Abhishek Bachchan has revealed the personal reasons behind choosing Jaipur for his Pro Kabaddi League franchise, the Jaipur Pink Panthers, saying the city holds an emotional connection to both his career and his relationship with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Abhishek entered the sports business in 2014 when he acquired the Jaipur franchise ahead of the inaugural season of the Pro Kabaddi League. The team, which he named the Jaipur Pink Panthers, went on to win the league’s inaugural season and later claimed another championship in Season 9.
Speaking on the Future Unplugged podcast, Abhishek explained that Jaipur was significant to him long before he became a team owner.
“Jaipur is where I shot a part of my first film. It was an auspicious thing to start something new,” he said.
The city also holds personal significance because of his relationship with Aishwarya. Abhishek revealed that Jaipur was where the two began dating, adding another emotional dimension to his decision to associate his first major sports venture with the Rajasthan capital.
The connection made Jaipur a natural choice when Abhishek was deciding which city he wanted his kabaddi franchise to represent. For him, it brought together memories of his beginnings as an actor, his personal life and the launch of a new chapter as a sports entrepreneur.
Abhishek made his Bollywood debut in 2000 with Refugee and went on to build a career spanning films and streaming projects. He married Aishwarya Rai in 2007.
His investment in the Jaipur Pink Panthers marked his expansion beyond acting into professional sports ownership, with the franchise becoming one of the Pro Kabaddi League’s championship-winning teams.
For Abhishek, however, the choice of Jaipur was about more than sporting or commercial considerations — it was a city already closely connected to some of the most important milestones in his life.
