Mangeshkar sisters and Big B inspire me: Sachin Tendulkar

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: February 3, 2010

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New Delhi: He is the role model of billions of people around the world but when it comes to his inspiration, India’s batting maestro says that three bollywood icons — Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Amitabh Bachchan, are people that he looks up to.

Tendulkar said that the passion and energy that legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan and melody queens Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle put behind their performances make them really inspiring.

“I get inspired by different sources. A powerful speech may inspire me, or flawless tennis in a Grand Slam final. You also get inspired seeing the passion in some of the greats. The Mangeshkar sisters (for instance) — Lataji and Ashaji,” Tendulkar said. “Recently, I was part of an audience where Asha Bhonsle sang. At the so-called old age of 75, she was amazing! Even at this age she was enjoying herself thoroughly while singing. The energy was unbelievable.”

“Then Mr Bachchan. I simply love all his movies. Especially that dialogue from Agneepath where he says Main Vijay Dinanath Chauhan..,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying in Sach, a book by Kolkata-based journalist Gautam Bhattacharya.

Tendulkar said that he always wonders how the three greats of bollywood managed to retain their passion after so many years in the industry. “Mr Bachchan, Lataji, Ashaji — maybe because they are all from Mumbai that I get to meet them more often, but to me, they are all living inspirations. These are the people who enjoy every moment in their creative lives. They don’t want shortcuts. I simply love this attitude,” Tendulkar gushed.

“I am also a great admirer of AR Rehman. I felt very proud when he had won the Oscars. We were playing in New Zealand then. From there I had sent him a text,” he added.

Tendulkar, who is considered one of the greatest cricketers ever with a mind-boggling collection of more than 30,000 international runs, has always been compared to cricketing legends like Sir Don Bradman and Viv Richards. There, however, is a school of thought which believes using helmet and other protective gears diminishes Tendulkar’s aura to some extent but the cricketer himself felt even Bradman would have used it had it been available then.

“I think it is only sensible to use protective gear if you have them in circulation. Twenty years from now, there will be some protective gear which I cannot think of today. The fact of the matter is that in the past such protective equipment didn’t exist. You can only use what you have today, isn’t it?” he asked.

Tendulkar has time and again proved his dedication towards the country, and more than once he put behind personal tragedies — like deaths of his father, close friend Mark Mascarenhas and patron Raj Singh Dungarpur — and performed up to expectations.

Asked how he could manage to perform under such circumstances, Tendulkar said, “I cannot answer this, honestly. It is very hard to explain. Something happens inside the ground. Body and the mind take charge somehow. It is very tough and you have to possibly experience it to understand. You have to be very tough and brave to handle such situations,” he said.

“When my father died (during 1999 World Cup in England) and I returned home, my family members, including my mother, asked me to go back and play for the country. They said, father would have loved that,” added Tendulkar.

Among his contemporaries, Tendulkar has the highest regards for former West Indian skipper Brian Lara.  “I wasn’t following Lara’s career minutely in that sense, to get inspired…But I would certainly watch Brian on TV. He is one of my all-time favourite players. Contrary to what people thought there was no rivalry between us. On the contrary we clicked right from the word go,” he said.

“We first met in Canada in 1990. We were playing for Rest of the World against Imran’s Pakistan…I remember having a 150-160 runs partnership with Brian. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of batting with him. Watching him from the non-striker’s end was great,” Tendulkar added.

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