Sport it in style

GEETHA RAO / TNN / Jan 15, 2007, 22:48 IST

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Several sportsmen have been going in for image make-overs.

Several sportsmen have been going in for image make-overs.
They're cool dudes now. Snooker champ Pankaj Advani, ace shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, cricketers Anil Kumble and Dhoni. Compare their pictures of a few years ago to more recent ones and you'll see the change. Pankaj Advani's clothes have changed, his hairstyle too. Kumble changed his nerdy glasses to sleeker ones, grew a goatee, then shaved off all facial hair.
There's a subtle change in the way Rathore looks now �� it's more contemporary. Dhoni, of course, has undergone a complete transformation. And now, young cricketer Robin Uthappa, too, shows signs of change �� he wears his hair a little longer.
Why the change? Snooker champ Pankaj Advani says, "I think one needs to look good to feel good. You feel confident as a result of looking good." About his change, he says, "I got myself a new hairstyle, streaked my hair. I had a few grey strands. I wanted to look younger. I wear more colourful clothes that fit me better. Earlier, I wore very formal, loose clothes, I didn't pay much attention to my clothes. Model Shakeel told me how to go about it last year."

S Ghosh, chief operating officer of a premier ad agency says the moment your face is in the public domain, you want to present yourself in a manner that people want to see over and over again. That apart, Ghosh says, "With success, you yourself become more conscious of your presence. That's when you get a haircut, change the kind of clothes you wear, hire an image consultant, go to spas, beauty parlours."
Also, a good face is more marketable than a not-so-good one, he adds. "Commerce and sports are interlinked." Brand expert Harish Bijoor says the change in the way you look occurs when there is more public interface. Even cinema stars look so different when they join films, compared to how they look after some time in the film world. And sportsmen? "They have two kinds of images �� the public image at large, and the advertising image. Some even have property managers who look after their sports endorsements. We must understand that this is a revenue stream."
Pointing to chess champion Vishwanathan Anand's change of image, Bijoor says, "Chess is such a nerdy sport, but Anand's image is now slicker �� there's the use of gel instead of hair oil." Bijoor also remembers using Saurav Ganguly for an ad some years ago: "He was so different, he couldn't even speak properly. Now there's a change in mannerism, gestures, body language. Even tone of speech, aggression or the lack of it as the situation demands." Bijoor says the change occurs gradually but surely. And the change is not accidental. "It's also commercially viable. The only person who's untouched by all this is chess champion Humpy."

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