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The billionaire, Bollywood and the future of Indian soccer

Bollywood actors and co-owners of football clubs, Abhishek Bachhan (R) and Ranbir Kapoor (2nd R), and Nita Ambani, businesswoman and promoter of the Indian Super League, react as retired cricketer and co-owner of the Kerala Blasters Sachin Tendulkar (L) speaks during the emblem-unveiling ceremony of Indian Super League in Mumbai August 28, 2014. [REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui]

A storm could be brewing in India’s top-flight soccer, a glamorous and acrimonious world that encompasses Asia’s richest man, the cream of Bollywood and a self-styled former gangster.

Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire tycoon who commands the Reliance Industries corporate empire that owns the Indian Super League, is facing pushback to his family’s dominance from some executives in the country’s soccer association and clubs.

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