It was January 2018. Chennai Super Kings were having a promotional event inside the MA Chidambaram Stadium as they geared up to come back after serving a two-year ban. Sometime during the event, a few of the scribes covering the event cornered MS Dhoni’s manager. The franchise had retained him and journalists wanted an interaction, warts and all. No topic would be off the table. His manager promised to arrange a sitdown.
A few weeks later, India Cements, in a grandiose function open only to its members and select sportswriters, had Dhoni on the stage answering questions. He was in particularly chatty form and dialled his charm up to 11. One answer, in particular, revealed the bond between CSK aficionados and him. The question was simple enough: “What are CSK’s biggest strengths?” Before launching into their plans for the auction, he said one word and paused for dramatic effect. “Fans.”
The Pongal weekend of January 2001 changed the goalposts vis-a-vis the word Thala (head/leader). Till then, it was only reserved for politicians and/or larger than life filmstars. Dheena — thanks to the song Vathikuchi pathikadhuda — flipped the politics associated with the word. Ajith Kumar became Thala to the masses. The word — after the song Thala pola varuma in Attahasam in 2004 — entered the mainstream. It became de rigueur to address your more popular friends with that moniker.
Some five years after the film released, another song once again shifted the politics of the word. It also contributed to Dhoni capturing an indelible place in the hearts of the people of Tamil Nadu. As the franchise prepared to leave for South Africa, its social media team wanted an anthem that would bang. Aravind Murali, Jaishankar Iyer and a few others got down to work.
Within days, Whistle podu was ready. Murali, one of those who helped pen the lyrics of the song, laughs when describing how they came up with Enga thala Dhoni-ku periya whistle adinga (whistle for our leader Dhoni).
“Thala in our culture is reserved for someone famous or well respected. We felt that it was a natural fit to address Dhoni by that name because he had already become a celebrity as far as the Tamil people were concerned,” he reminisces. “He had won India the 2007 World T20, taken CSK to the final in the debut IPL season... it was, we told ourselves, a good fit.” How good? “It was so good that within a couple of days of the song dropping on YouTube, the hits compounded,” S Chockalingam, whose agency handles social media for CSK, says.
While other teams were struggling to establish a connection with the fans, CSK had mastered it thanks to a calm, unassuming captain who brought leadership skills on the field and a viral anthem that helped unite the fans off it. But the concept of Whistle podu wasn’t born in the CSK’s boardrooms. It all came about thanks to a very simple idea.
“The one thing people all over the world do whenever they are in places of entertainment... is whistle. That’s how we adopted it.” Chockalingam elaborates. “Our client told us there would only be a small number of players taking part in a pre-season camp in Chennai. They didn’t want to do a lot of promotion. But as an agency, we wanted to do something so they granted us 15 minutes with each player.”
How did the whistle come about? “Simple,” says Chockalingam. “A few sports teams have their signatures. Liverpool, for example, have You will never walk alone. We were after a property that would, in time, become a CSK signature.” Why the word ‘whistle’? “If you go to a Rajinikanth film on the first day, what’s the only thing you hear?” Whistles.
It was two months out from CSK’s first fixture after a two-year suspension. There was an inclination to put out a similar anthem. When the creative team was looking for solutions, it was Dhoni who came up with the idea of not changing anything. “He even told us he won’t come for the promo shoot if we don’t have whistle podu,” Chockalingam laughs.
While Chockalingam agreed, the original anthem had to receive a new coat of paint. The team’s competitive return to the MA Chidambaram Stadium was going to be one of the city’s biggest sporting events of 2018. So, they turned towards a familiar face for inspiration — Rajinikanth. That’s why the video began with music inspired from Baasha and an audio track that rhymed with Neruppu Da, a track from Kabali.
Harish, who helped put out the anthem in 2018, picks up the story. “We always fall head over heels for larger than life characters. And Dhoni is one of them. He has captained CSK to lots of titles... so to introduce Thala, it was kind of apt to have a Thalaivar (Rajinikanth is referred to by that) song as the base.” There is more than a grain of truth in Harish’s assessment. But the adoration has always come with a caveat, an either-or conundrum: Shivaji Ganesan or MG Ramachandran? M Karunanidhi or J Jayalalithaa? Ilaiyaraja or AR Rahman? Kamal Haasan or Rajinikanth? The only person who is an exception to the rule? Dhoni. He doesn’t have a challenger. The love, quite clearly, is unconditional and universal.
Kasi Viswanathan, CSK’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), still remembers an incident from 2018 when talking about the craze this city reserves for Dhoni. “The team had finished shooting an ad for Gulf Oil and were coming to their first training session after the break,” Viswanathan says. “Our fans came to know about it and flocked to the stadium. That day, we were frankly not prepared to have 6000-7000 people to watch a training session, we had to call the police. It’s goosebumps when you see that many people watching training.” While a section of the fan base goes to training sessions to see the whole team, the majority of them traverse through ‘D Stand’s’ rickety, revolving gate for only one man.
“I would shamelessly admit that if not for Thala, I wouldn’t be following CSK. For me, there is no cricket without Thala,” says Aarthi Sundaresan. She has been regularly watching Dhoni at Chepauk since his first game with the now-ubiquitous yellow jersey: against Mumbai Indians in 2008. “I remember him walking out in his yellow jersey and taking the victory lap. I believe that was the moment I knew I would be worshipping him for years to come.” Twelve years later, the chartered accountant who works in the city is keeping up her promise. She was one among 1000s who had gone to Chepauk to witness Dhoni train last Friday.
One had to be in the scrum to believe that this was just a training session. The noise was so deafening, it was like being at a rock concert. And that sense only heightened when the former India captain repeatedly hit Piyush Chawla into the stands. By the time he was done, the crowd was chanting “DHONI, DHONI” like they were at an actual match. He hadn’t played any competitive cricket since the 2019 World Cup semifinal and many were questioning his appetite for the game. Yet, the fans inside D Stand just couldn’t get enough. Capturing that sense of noise and colour is what forced Star Sports to commission a series, Roar of the Lion as well as a second season, Return of the Lion.
“Last year there was a multilingual drama web series produced called Roar of the Lion following the return of Chennai Super Kings in the 2018 edition of IPL after serving a ban for two years,” a Star Sports spokesperson said.
“The documentary reveals the emotional memories and experiences one of India’s most celebrated cricket players, MS Dhoni, who then led the squad to a title at the 2018 IPL tournament. “Return of the Lion was a special show produced by Star Sports to showcase all the excitement around MS Dhoni returning to cricketing action after the ICC WC in June. The show featured the action from the first week of his practice back in Chennai and the preparations of the squad for this years’ IPL.” The significance? No other active cricketer has a series based around them from training sessions.
The inaugural IPL auction was a few days away and five of the eight teams had icon players. CSK were one of the three without one but they had their eye on a cold, calculating 26-year-old whose Joginder Sharma switcheroo in South Africa in 2007 was still making headlines. Viswanathan narrates the story behind the move to go for Dhoni.
“What you need to remember is (almost) every other team in that auction had an icon player. When we went for him, we were fairly sure he would become an icon. He had already captained the side to the World T20 title and we were confident that he would go on to be one of the legends.” Viswanathan, who has a ready smile on his face, is not surprised by the Thala moniker. “When you look at his CV, it commands respect. He has won two World Cups, one Champions Trophy... so not a surprise.”
Throw in the fact that he has multiple titles with CSK and it’s not a surprise. Social media is a polarising place at the best of times but the responses of the average CSK fan to @ ChennaiIPL whenever they post a Dhoni picture tell its own story. No abuses, no death threats... just one endless train of heart emojis of varying colours. It’s also what made Dhoni, not exactly known for his public displays of affection, post that now-iconic picture of him in a CSK jersey with Thala written on it after the ban ended in 2017.
Sundaresan still can’t explain what she felt when she saw that photo. “I fondly recall the Instagram picture in a jersey with Thala printed on it. I still remember the emotions I went through when I saw that picture; I still can’t explain the feeling.
“For me, he will be a hero, the only superstar I ever admired/respected/ worshipped.” Chepauk is perhaps the city’s biggest mass sporting cathedral. At this moment though, 1000s of worshippers like Sundaresan stand up for only one God when they are there.
MS DHONI (ALL-TIME IPL RECORD)
M 190 Runs 4432
HS84* SR137.85 50s23 6s209