UUsarkk Naranga Kusarkk Munthiringa! Sounds like Greek? Not for Keralites who are familiar with the star football-cricket commentator Shaiju Damodaran, for whom the phrase just means ‘excellent’! The veteran sports journalist-turned-commentator’s loud, hilarious live narration of events, which offers a tough competition to Shankar Mahadevan’s famous Indipop music album ‘Breathless’, is characterised by cheers, screams, funny one-liners and instant parodies of popular songs. The man has literally rewritten the clichéd commentary style by including punchy dialogues and references from movies throughout the high-spirited commentary while explaining the game, statistics and above all, conveying to the listeners the fervour inside the stadium during the match.
Roped in as the Malayalam commentator for the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia broadcast on a national channel, Shaiju’s skills have impressed even Anand Mahindra, managing director of Mahindra and Mahindra, who owned the now-defunct Mahindra United Football Club. In a tweet, he praised the enthusiastic commentary in Malayalam sharing a clip of it during Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick goal against Spain during the match on Friday. Admitting that he had no idea of the language, he tweets, “I’m switching to this commentary in Malayalam. No, I don’t understand the language, but I don’t need to. These guys are so pumped up that they make English and Hindi commentators sound tame! (sic)”
The viral video clip of Shaiju’s hilarious commentary ‘Thirumbi vannitten nnu sollu’ (Tell them I’m back!), ‘Ronaldo da!’ referring to Rajinikanth’s famous Kabali dialogue has set the Twitterati abuzz with people commenting about the hilarity, ‘goalgasm’ and terming Shaiju ‘the king of Indian commentators’, making him a favourite of non-Malayalis too. A rough translation of the viral commentary goes like, “With bated breath, Sochi….. Portugal trailing…. Ronaldo takes the free kick. Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo…. oooo… ooo… You watch this… this is why this man is called a genius on the planet. This is why Portugal’s dear son deserves to be called a genius. Ronaldo is over the moon! Portugal is 3-3. Goodness, what a goal! Cristiaaano Ronaaldooooo…. Tell them I am back. Ronaldo da!”
It has not always been love and laughs; there is criticism too, but Shaiju takes it all well. “I have seen most of them and I respect the positive and negative trolls, because for me life is fun,” says the star commentator, who laughingly claims that he has always been accused of immaturity.
Having entered the commentary phase after a 20-year-old sports journalistic career in a Malayalam daily, Shaiju has completed five years as a star narrator, becoming the only one in the country to have covered the maximum number of Indian Super League matches - 222! In his typical style, Shaiju announces, “ISL is my father - the one who made me what I am.”
However, he refuses to be compared to his counterparts. “There’s no point in comparing people in the commentary box because when two anchor the game, one is the lead commentator and the other, the expert commentator. While I detail the sights and spirit, the other person explains the game strategy, fouls, goals, player changes and technicalities,” says Shaiju, who calls himself the son of Kochi city, where he lives with his wife Asha Akbar and sons Abhinav and Adhinav.
Idolising English footballer-turned commentator Ray Hudson and our own Harsha Bhogle, Shaiju has paved a unique path in the field. Where do the instant poetic connections and parody lines come from? “You better ask my wife,” he laughs, adding that there’s another Shaiju not many know about. “An ardent fan of film songs, from the classic Vayalar-Devarajan compositions to new-gen ones by the likes of Jassie Gift, Vineeth Sreenivasan and Afsal, I narrate the lyrics of every song I have listened to,” he stresses on the word ‘narrate’, admitting that he is not a good singer.
Like any soccer buff, he too must have his favourites, but Shaiju cleverly answers, “All the 32 teams and 736 players are mine. There are no favourites to point out.”
Hardly an hour before the Sweden vs South Korea match for which he has to be in the box, Shaiju seems to be cool, totally free of tension. He says with a laugh, “My commentary days begin with a breakfast and the next meal is dinner, or sometimes, nothing.”
Updation has become a part of his life. Even the minutest background info is important for a commentator. “It’s not easy as one feels. Professional commentary is rocket science. One slip on air, it’s all over! I am riding on a rocket,” Shaiju winds up. Love him or hate him. There’s no way you can ignore Shaiju Damodaran!
(Inputs from Kevin Kishore)
