Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A legendary life captured

CHENNAI: Whenever this ace table tennis player put two fingers into his pocket, his opponents got jittery. They knew he would start scoring more points. Arjuna awardee V. Chandrasekar set the record straight.

“I did it to stretch my pants,” he said, “but, people thought that whenever I did that, I got extra inspirational support from God.”

From winning the national championship three times to going into a coma and then recovering to see a landmark judgment in his favour, Mr. Chandrasekar’s entire life stands for what legends are made of.

A biopic on his eventful and inspirational life titled ‘Chandra’ was launched by Anil Kumble here on Sunday. Members of the cricket team, including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, were present.

Mr. Chandrasekar said the revenue from the biopic would be used to fund a coaching facility exclusively for table tennis in Chennai.

Mr. Kumble said he closely followed Mr. Chandrasekar’s career. When you are at your peak, you never look at the possibility of your career ending, he said. By overcoming such a trauma and emerging as a winner, Mr. Chandrasekar proves to be an inspiration not only for those in sports, but for everyone, said Mr. Kumble.

Arjuna award winners in table tennis were felicitated at the function. G. Jagannath, who won the award in 1970, to Niyati Shah, who won in 1981, and S. Raman, who won in 1998, were among those who received mementos.

Mr. Raman said Mr. Chandrasekar’s life was an amazing comeback in the history of Indian sport.

The biopic will have 26 episodes in all, said director Haricharan. Inspired by a book written by Mr. Chandrasekar, he wanted this serial to have a feel of a movie, so he directed it in cinemascope.

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