2012 was a breakthrough year for commentary in India. It was the year Star Sports bagged the well sought after broadcasting rights for Indian cricket and in order to take the game to the country's Hindi-speaking masses, had a channel solely dedicated to that audience.
But to do things differently and more interestingly from how such audiences had been previously catered to by the government broadcaster Doordarshan, Star needed voices in the commentary box who could make Hindi a popular medium of narrating the sport among the growing next-gen.
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This is where Aakash Chopra, the former India Test cricketer, led the way with his witty comments and analogies, connecting directly to a fan fraternity that, even if not analytical in its tastes, is extremely important for the sport's financial welfare.
"Hindi is my first language, it comes naturally to me," Chopra told Cricbuzz. "In Hindi, we got that kind of a freehand when it was re-invented by Star. Since I was a part of it from the beginning, I had the luxury of creating a new template."
"My wife would tell me, let's not go the DD (Doordarshan - Government of India channel) way. That's passe. So we won't use words like 'shikshak' and 'vidhyarti' anymore, we will call it 'teacher' and 'student' even in Hindi."
"It's about talking to this generation, in Bollywood Hindi and making it entertaining. Unless you are being frivolous and dumbing it down, entertainment is what people want."
Chopra remains grateful for the opportunity Star provided him, for not only English would've limited his chances because of how far he was in the pecking order when he started to other well-established names but also not allow him to be the free-spirited soul that endears the Hindi audiences.
"I can’t be a Bumble (David Lloyd) because I don’t have that plethora of words to play with. So I will not go there, I would rather stick to my strengths. With Hindi also, I don’t go shaayari. I’m not Sidhu (Navjot Singh Sidhu), I can’t do that."
"But I’ll play with words, whether it’s rhyming or it’s a pun because with Hindi I know where I can use them. English is straight-jacketed," he added.
Chopra doesn't only serve his fans via commentary, he engages with them through social media also. "They may not be my fans, but they are cricket fans who want to be engaged," he said. But being active over social media has its own pros and cons, for Chopra's analytical comment or criticism of any player leads to trolling from certain fans, who try to nullify his opinion by questioning his own cricketing achievements.
Even England all-rounder Moeen Ali once shared a screenshot of Chopra's record from his only 10 Tests for India in response to an article written by the man over Ali's technique.
"My greatest takeaway from the Moeen Ali incident was that he had an issue with my career stats and not with something that I had said," Chopra said. "So if you're not having an issue with the technical or analytical point that I'm making, it doesn't make a difference to me."
"If I say the head of the batsman is falling when it is not, then it is a different thing. If you have a problem that I've scored 25 runs less than someone else, then that's not what I'm here for. I was paid at a different time to play, now I'm paid to voice my opinion."
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
