On Thursday, Royal Challengers Bangalore put up an Instagram post with Virat Kohli. And of course it has gone viral. He is seen talking about a song that he is listening on a loop these days. He pulls out his phone even as he says “You will be shocked”, and says in Tamil “Nee Singam dhan” (you are a lion) and flips the phone towards the camera to reveal the album cover.
It’s a song from the 2023 Tamil movie ‘Pathu Thala’ (10 heads), starring Silambu Arasan and the music was composed by AR Rahman. The lyrcis to that particular song was penned by Vivek and sung by Sid Sriram.
The song’s lyrics are powerful, reflecting the resilience of a lion-hearted person who stands tall in the face of adversities and challenges.
𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐩 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰? 🎶
“You’ll be shocked”, he says. We’re grooving too! 🥰 pic.twitter.com/NlZTNAZbjD
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 1, 2025
The opening stanza has these lyrics: ‘Suttri Nindru Oore Parkka Kalam Kanban/ Punnagaiyil Senai Vala Ranam Kanban/ Un Perai Saikka Palayanigal Serntha Poodhe Nee Singam Dhan.”
A rough English translation would be: “when the entire town is watching, he will take the field/ when the soldiers live with smiles, he will take all the wounds/ the fact that many elephants have gathered to slay you is a proof that you are a lion!”
All well and good, thus far. But it also has a Dhoni connection. Not just the existence of ‘thala’ in the movie title, but this was a song that CSK’s Chepaul DJ played last year when Dhoni was on the field. In one particular instance, it was also played during a game against RCB. Did Kohli hear the song for the first time then?
