Batting for Ink

His recent claim to fame is the tattoo that he has created for West Indian fast bowler Kemar Roach. Descrbing him as one of the most ‘chilled out’ people off the field,Malani says that he gained popularity amongst cricketers a year back,when he did tattoo,a tribal art on his forearm,for Shashank Nag,who used to play during the first edition of the IPL. From there on,word spread and other DC players like Aniruddh Singh,Abhinav Kumar,Aashish Reddy,DC fitness trainer and others have gotten themselves inked here over the last eight months.

The latest entrant Keimar Roach was a bolt out of the blue for him. “I was pleasantly surprised when he walked into the studio saying that he had heard a lot about my work,” he recalls. Since Kemar means prince in his native language and his jersey number is 24,so Malani went on to ink the number 24 on his chest just above the heart,and his daughter’s name Kemari,which means Princess,on his left forearm. “He left with a 70 mm wide grin,which he said was the best thing that had happened to him since the birth of his daughter and his career as a cricketer,” Malani gushes.

While Malani mentions that the word of mouth has helped his popularity in the Hyderabad-based outfit,it was also the personalisation and the concept tattoos that helped him pave his way amongst Indian and international cricketers. Before beginning the work,the artiste prefers to speak to the players about their lives,their families back home,achievements and ambitions. “Of course they have a definite idea about what they want but I take the extra step. What I create is a tattoo what they like but also which are personalised just for them,” he explains.

He had recently even worked with the Indian National team captain,MS Dhoni. He says,“It was a commercial tattoo (non-permanent) of his favourite bike the Suzuki Hayabusa on his right arm. While he was apprehensive about a permanent one even this one left his gushing with happiness.”