Vineeth Kumar and Dhyan Chand: Sreenivasan says he named sons after these hockey players

Veteran actor and filmmaker Sreenivasan has revealed how he named his sons Vineeth and Dhyan, both of whom are busy actors and directors. “Being a sports lover in my young days, I borrowed the names of two hockey stars for my sons,” he said while speaking at a ‘koythulsavam’ (harvest festival) in Udayamperoor grama panchayat. Dhyan also was present at the event.

“I was a sportsman while young and also played for the college football team. However, I could never score a goal. The Payyanur College had the weakest team and I earnestly played hoping for their win. But we never won a match,” said Sreenivasan. “Many years later, I was invited to inaugurate the arts club at Payyannur College by a student who lived near my house. At the function, I told the audience about my failure to score even a single goal during my playing days and urged the organisers to arrange a goalpost and ball to fulfill that wish. However, they declined my request,” he said.

Even though he played football in college, Sreenivasan liked cricket more. He said that a relative, who was also a friend, named Divakaran had sparked his interest in cricket since his childhood. “Everyone called him ‘Pataudi Divakaran’ after India’s famous cricketer and captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi – actress Sharmila Tagore’s husband and actor Saif Ali Khan’s father,” said Divakaran.

“Those days, our house did not have electricity and there was no means to listen to cricket commentary. However, Pataudi Divakaran had a pocket radio and we used to regularly follow cricket commentary. As a youngster, I heard the commentary for the first time on Divakaran's radio and became crazy about cricket,” he said.

Sreenivasan also tried his hand at hockey while in high school. “I read all sports news those days, when India frequently won medals for hockey in Olympics and Vineeth Kumar was a leading player. Later, when my first son was born, I was inspired to name him after this hockey player after dropping ‘Kumar’. My second son was named after Dhyan Chand, the legend who was referred to as ‘Magician of hockey’, by removing ‘Chand’,” he said.

Taking a playful swipe at his younger son Dhyan, Sreenivasan added, “Dhyan has all the defects of removing ‘Chand’ from his name. I have no idea what sort of magic he will create.”Dhyan immediately shot back: “I am now a magician in Malayalam movies.”

The audience enjoyed Dhyan’s speech also. “My first sight from the window every morning on days when I had no work was this paddy field. I was the only person looking at this field regularly. So far, nobody has invited me to be a guest at an event. But after the old generation passes, I would be the one taking care of the fields and I am waiting for that day,” said Dhyan.