Sports

The Rajinification of Thala Dhoni

On the hot April 30 Chennai afternoon, as thousands screamed their heads off at the sight of MS Dhoni walking out to bat against Punjab Kings at Chepauk, DJ Zen cued up the iconic Rajinikanth song from the movie Baasha: “Baasha paaru …” (See Baasha). That 1995 movie where he played a Don had propelled Rajini’s career to ultra stardom and had even Amitabh Bachchan fly to Chennai, wait at Rajini’s home for his arrival to congratulate him. A more apt song lyrics couldn’t have been found for the cricketing superstar Dhoni. Watch Baasha. Watch Dhoni. And gawk. Nothing more needed to be said. Chepauk shook with goosebumps. Rajinification of Dhoni was complete.N Srinivasan, the owner and the powerful businessman adminrator who got him to CSK would once say that Dhoni would always be “part and parcel” of not just the franchise but also the city of Chennai. “There is no CSK without Dhoni and there is no Dhoni without CSK,” he said. No other franchise has proudly and unabashedly attached itself to a single player.Tamil Nadu, and Chennai in particular, adores its starry heroes. Especially Rajini. Even Yoga babas might struggle to get up at 3 am, but there are 4 am shows that run packed in Chennai. Movie watching can be a religious experience; milk baths to stars’ pixels happen right inside the theatre complex. Colourful bits of papers are shredded and strewn over the screen and swirl over the heads of the watchers. No DJ has to urge anyone to ‘whle podu’. No one can hear the dialogues for a half hour at least. The title card is a landmark in this watching experience; every self-respecting fan knows which movie had the ‘Superstar Rajinikanth’ title card for the first time – Annamalai in 1992. Above all, the entry shot of the superstar is the pivotal point in the movie, triggering utter hysteria. It’s no surprise, then, that the entry of Dhoni at a cricket ground has become a first-darshan religious moment.
“As far as mass songs go, there are not many that eclipse Baasha paaru, and given the lyrical reference which says he has magnetic power to pull everyone towards him, it just fit perfectly for Dhoni. And personally, I’m a fan of Rajini and Dhoni and they are totally similar in terms of how they have won over the Tamil Nadu people,” Zen tells this newspaper.
It’s an understandable comparison. Like Rajini, who came from a humble background in Karnataka where he was a bus conductor, Dhoni was a ticket checker in Kharagpur Railway station in his formative years. Like Rajini, Dhoni too came to a city that is totally different to the one he grew up in. If Rajini was a Maharashtrian birth who grew up in Karnataka and whose charisma wooed the Tamilians, Dhoni was born in Bihar, raised in Uttarakhand and played for Jharkhand in domestic cricket before captaining Super Kings. Even Amitabh was forced to play his age after a dismal 90’s as a hero. Not Rajini. It’s said his fans won’t allow him. Similarly, CSK fans didn’t believe their Dhoni can age. There have been Rajini flops but they are so wondrously accepted, criticisms binned; just like no one is crying over the failed chase against Rajasthan Royals where Dhoni’s stunning cameo wasn’t enough. His three sixes were deemed as ‘paisa vasool’. The takeaways from CSK games seem to be Dhoni’s entry, one bludgeoned six, and later on Instagram, how every big opposition player puts a selfie with him.
The chants of Dhoni Dhoni at the stadium can be reminiscent of ‘Bahubali Bahubali’ cries from the blockbuster Bahubali, which redefined Indian cinema a few years back. It’s director Rajamouli had told this newspaper that while Dhoni wasn’t the inspiration for naming his character Mahendra, he did add: Mahendra Baahubali was impulsive, Dhoni is composed. I would draw a likely comparison with Amarendra Baahubali, in fact,” he said. On the launch of MS Dhoni the movie, Rajamouli would not just share the stage with the cricketer but would rave: “You are my inspiration. My generation started watching cricket in the mid ’80s. It was an era when we would watch cricket more with fear than joy. Until this man came along. After Dhoni became the captain, we started watching cricket without fear, we started watching cricket only for joy. Even a debutant started to play without fear. Thank you, sir, for making us watch cricket with pure joy.” And he ended his speech with a disarming request: “One photo sir”.
And yet there was a touch of apprehension on the evening of April the 3rd in Chennai, Dhoni’s CSK’s first home game since 2019. Will the aging hero show he is ageless?
As Dhoni walked out in the last over, the DJ Zen tapped his console: “Once upon a time, there lived a ghost,” a hit number from Kamal Haasan’s highest-earning gross movie Vikram, released last year. It struck an emotional chord. Since Chepauk’s crowd last saw him, their thala had retired from international cricket, his peak days were seemingly behind him, and younger fans wouldn’t have the visceral experience of his pomp. Like Kamal Haasan. His movie career was stalling, political career wasn’t picking up, and he was reduced to a host of a reality television show. The forgotten hero, in real and reel – his character Vikram plays out as a myth, a ghost. But Dhoni, like Kamal in that movie, would show he wasn’t going to be avuncular; he was still the Thala. He bashed the living daylights out of Mark Wood, the quickest pacer this season, for two sixes to announce his arrival. Little did anyone know what was to follow. Dhoni was now appropriating Kamal.
“The next day as visuals of Dhoni’s entry walking into the Vikram song went viral on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, it sort of created expectation among fans,” says Zen. “Not just those at the stadium, even those who were watching it on phones picked it up and the whole vibe changed. So from there on, it was all about meeting the expectations,” says Zen who is busy short-ling the songs to play for Dhoni on Sunday.
In the games that followed, Zen would play “Thirai thee pidikum” (set the screen on fire) from actor Vijay’s Beast movie, before settling for Rajini’s Baasha in the match against Punjab Kings. Now, there was no doubt. No one questions Rajini. No one doubts Dhoni. Thala was back, ruling the mind space of everyone.
It doesn’t matter at what price (black market is thriving on selling tickets at 4x rates) or time or day as every single soul in the city wants to be in attendance in flesh to give Dhoni a farewell like no other. Some Tamil movie stars and television faces, popular enough to get mobbed, have even sat among the general public in stands where each ticket cost Rs 2,500, just to be part of the “thanks-giving.”
Not that Dhoni has confirmed that this IPL season would be his last. Like Rajini would maintain silence or throw a line for years when anyone asked about his political entry, Dhoni would deflect it saying ‘you guys have decided, not me’. They are waiting for a ‘definitely not this year’ comment from him, but like Rajini did, he is making them sweat.
Last week against Delhi Capitals, Dhoni walked into another Rajini song, which was used as an intro in his blockbuster “Padayappa”, but this time Zen made it as if Dhoni was telling thank you to the Super Kings fans, “Endrum nalla thambi naan appa, Nandri ulla aal appa, Thaalaati valarththathu Tamizhnaatu mannappa (Roughly translated to: Forever I’m a good brother, person with gratitude and nurtured the land of Tamizhs),” with the actress Ramya Krishnan, who played the protagon ‘Neelambari’ in the audience. The Rajinification of Dhoni reached epic level that night.
In Rajini’s movie where all other actors, irrespective of how good they are and how powerful their roles, are reduced to side casts, the same is happening with other Super Kings players. Every time a CSK batsman is dismissed, they have been chanting “we want Dhoni.” Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the entire crowd started to chant at Ravindra Jadeja and Ambati Rayudu to get out. It even led to Jadeja openly complaining about it. Even R Ashwin, who laces his YouTube shows with filmy dialogues as segment titles, would say they need to show some “empathy” and murmur gently against hero worship. No-one is lening, of course.
Dhoni has increasingly grown fond of the Chennai culture, particularly the facet about how influential people underplay themselves and their humbleness. He has launched a movie production house that is coming out with a new movie in Tamil. Like any other common man, who likes having tea the roadside stalls, he too has found a tea-shop in Triplicane that he frequents.
Dhoni has become the single unifying force here. Tamil Nadu is a state that was torn between the stars MGR and Sivaji Ganesan, Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, Rajini and Kamal, Vijay and Ajith, Illayaraaja and AR Rahman. But with Dhoni there is none standing opposite to him. Even the local boy R Ashwin walked to a bit of jeers when he turned out in Rajasthan Royals colours. So far, Dhoni has neither broken his silence about his future or made any overt gestures of thanks at the stadium. But if he had to, he may well as well use another popular Rajinikanth number: “En peru Padayappa”, in particular these lyrics.
“Maalaigal idavendam, Thanga magudamum tharavendam, Tamizh thaai naadu thantha anbu pothumae. (Roughly translated to: ‘Don’t need any praises or appreciation, neither do I expect to be crowned, I’m content with affection showered Tamil Nadu’).

Related Articles

Back to top button