Brandman

It was, instead, all about control, because just how big is a superstar who can8217;t control his own destiny? No longer was he bound by the whims and fancies of the men in suits. No longer was he the model peddling a brand: Sachin Tendulkar has transcended that state of being to becoming the brand himself.

8216;8216;Tendulkar never fails,8217;8217; was what chairman of selectors Raj Singh Dungarpur had to say during the debate over the inclusion of a 16-year-old batting sensation for the Pakistan tour in 1989-90. It8217;s a blind faith that has spread from selectors to a succession of skippers and, now, to the men in suits.

It is this unique status 8212; one he shares with few others in Indian public life: Shahrukh, Kareena, the Big B 8212; that the corporate czars cash on when they ask him to endorse their products. So even when there8217;s no cricketing activity, Tendulkar continues to pop up on television screens sipping a soft drink, endorsing a credit card or recommending the virtues of an energy drink which he is supposedly partial to. You can trust this man.

He8217;s been pulling strings for some time now, of course. Never has an Indian sports personality attained the cult status that he enjoys. The attendance at cricket matches the world over has long depended on Tendulkar8217;s tenure at the crease; the Mike Denness affair last year threatened to split international cricket, as did the more recent contracts row, of which Sachin was indubitably the cause celebre.

The deals with Fiat and TVS Motors were among the fallout of his new deal with WorldTel adding to the existing endorsements with Britannia, Pepsi, Visa, MRF, Boost, Philips, Colgate and Adidas.

Add the team sponsors Sahara to that list and Tendulkar8217;s stature as the most saleable product in world cricket is complete.

So is Tendulkar a brand? 8216;8216;One hundred per cent,8217;8217; thunders ad guru Alyque Padamsee. 8216;8216;Like Amitabh Bachchan, he is both a fine human being and an outstanding player. Tendulkar is probably the most productive brand, even more than the movie stars.8217;8217;

8216;8216;He is much more than a brand. He is a role model,8217;8217; chimes in ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar. 8216;8216;A role model of integrity. One shining example who has made it to the top without any contacts, without money, without short cuts.8217;8217;

Even the mud, such as it is, associated with him fails to stick. The recent controversy over the waiver of import duties for his Ferrari 8212; the one time one saw anti-Tendulkar letters in newspapers 8212; has died down, and the 8216;ball-tampering8217; in South Africa last year simply never caught on.

The curly-haired, chubby-faced baby of the team has grown into a veteran at 29, not blessed with conventional good looks but who radiates power, confidence, success.

What amazes Kakkar is this: 8216;8216;For the last 15 years he has been facing pressure single-handed and successfully. Any other person would have crumbled.8217;8217;

For a summary of all the qualities ad men love in Tendulkar, listen to Fiat8217;s official spokesman explaining the factors which influenced them to sign him up. 8216;8216;In Sachin Tendulkar we found the perfect brand champion. Sachin is dynamic, full of life, young, energetic, dependable, a winner and a true role model. This fits our product profile and complements our endeavour to present the new face of Fiat India to our customers.8217;8217;

It8217;s been a quid pro quo, as the success of Fiat Palio testifies. Launched at the end of September 2001, the Palio has scripted a turnaround story for Fiat, selling 33,000 cars in one year.

To all those qualities, add humility. Kakkar recalls an incident which occurred during the shooting of the Pepsi commercial, Sachin ala re. 8216;8216;We had made the film with Sachin hitting the ball, all over the city, with a fly-swatter. After the film was shot, Sachin wanted to see the film, which he did and followed with a request. 8216;8216;He said, 8216;Please remove the fly-swatter.8217; I told him that the highlight of the film was in fact the fly-swatter. His explanation was, 8216;It makes me feel so arrogant. It makes me bigger than the game. The game will always be bigger than me.8217;8217;8217;

8216;8216;I reshot the film with a stump8217;8217;, recalls Kakkar.

Sunil Gavaskar, himself no mean brand, finds it difficult to come to terms with the new Brandman.

8216;8216;His talent is far more overpowering that anything else. I8217;ve never thought of Sachin as a brand. To me he is still that little fella, who has now developed some fat in the right place.8217;8217;

Much of the credit for Sachin8217;s re-invention should go to his friend, philosopher and guide, the late Mark Mascarenhas. Theirs was a partnership that changed the profile of the Indian cricketer. Mascarenhas was the first to tap Tendulkar8217;s market potential by signing him for a then record deal worth 7.5 million in 1995, when Brian Lara and Shane Warne were the reigning superstars. That deal separated Tendulkar from the rest and there was no looking back. 8216;8216;It was a case of not marketing him properly. We raised the stakes,8217;8217; Mascrenhas had said then.

Interestingly, there were uncanny similarities between the two. While Tendulkar hated to lose so did Mascarenhas, who flaunted the larger-than-life image with abandon.

Obviously, it was Mascarenhas again who rewrote a new chapter by renewing his contract with Tendulkar in May 2001. However, fate snapped the alliance as eight months later, Mascarenhas, 44, died in a car crash near Nagpur.

Tendulkar was shattered.

8216;8216;I met him as an agent, but he became a very close friend of mine. I had a very emotional reationship with him. I will never forget him because he always stood by me and wished well for me. Often, he went out of the way to make things comfortable for me. Overall, he was more a family member than an agent. He was like my elder brother. He always treated me as a family member. He always told me to concentrate on my cricket and not to bother about the commercial aspect and never forced me to do any commercials,8217;8217; was Tendulkar8217;s eulogy at the memorial service.

Mascarenhas, a flamboyant character who courted controversy, also taught Tendulkar the Vision Thing: Invest in tomorrow, not just today. One product of that was the restaurant, an idea stunningly simple yet effective in concept: Tendulkar, the consummate foodie, lending his name to a chain of eateries where good food would be available at less-than-five-star prices.

He tied up with entrepreneur Sanjay Narang but typically kept his control over all aspects: menu, crockery, decor, pricing. 8216;8216;He8217;s extremely intuitive, very clear about his likes and dislikes and knows exactly what he wants8217;8217;, Narang says. 8216;8216;This isn8217;t a mere endorsement, this is a reflection of his personal taste.8217;8217;

Today, Sachin knows Time is catching up with him. The emergence of a talented, boisterous Young Brigade 8212; Sehwag, Kaif and Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Zaheer 8212; has put the team8217;s elder statesmen, including Dravid and Saurav, on notice.

The records will keep tumbling, no doubt 8212; Sachin crossed another on Friday, the first cricketer to score 20,000 international runs 8212; for a few years more. But Tendulkar, never one to take chances if he can help it, has started buying his insurance. This time, we8217;re all chipping in.