Who Is Behind Srini Mama? We Get You up Close and Personal
Srini Mama is the best online entertainer a Tamil cricket fan could ask for.
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When you ask staunch cricket fans from Tamil Nadu if they know Srini Mama, all of them would say yes. But their nod could mean two things. Either, they are referring to the N Srinivasan, former BCCI Chairman and perhaps the most influential strongman in the world of cricket, or it could be his online parody that goes by the moniker ‘Srini Mama’.
Uproariously funny, rooted in Chennai’s culture, mouthing Tanglish (Tamil+English for the uninitiated) and with perceptive analysis of cricket, Srini Mama is the best online entertainer a Tamil cricket fan could ask for.
In the two years that Srini Mama has been operating online, the parody has garnered more than 54,000 followers on Facebook and nearly 19,000 on Twitter. His followers are mostly from Tamil Nadu, but also include Tamils from all over the world.
And all of us have wondered – who is the real Srini Mama? What does he do? Or is it a she?
Your wait is over, here is a character sketch of Srini Mama.
Srini Mama is a male in his early 20s based in Chennai, and yes, he is an engineer.
He is a typical Chennai-ite, speaking a mix of Tamil and English. He likes Batman and you cannot hear everything he says because he is busy laughing at his own jokes.
Srini Mama spends all his time on cricket, except when he is at work or when he is sleeping. He claims to be inspired by his grandmother – who from her young age went to watch every cricket match in Chepauk stadium, Chennai – something not many women in the 1950s did. He is a huge fan of South African cricketer AB de Villiers.
He started the page in May 2013, during T-20 IPL finals between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a match CSK lost. However, he claims that opening the page was an impromptu decision and so was naming it “Srini Mama”. The page remained idle until IPL 2014, when it came into full swing. He mostly did a pre-match forecast about who would perform and who would not.
Sometimes he’d be so accurate that his followers thought it was actually N Srinivasan behind the parody account’s post.
When asked about his tongue-in-cheek humour, he said he was not always funny and is often embarrassed at how drab his posts are. Even though he has tens of thousands of followers, he claims he is not pressurised to be funny or script better jokes every time. Sometimes cricket fans make posters of his jokes and display it during matches.
He claims that he gets ideas while discussing with his friends, but most of the time, he writes as ideas come to his mind.
As far as cricket goes, this Srini Mama gets on the ground and loves fielding. He absolutely loves Kamal Haasan movies and is apparently an Agatha Christie fan.
His Tam-brahm tone, and friendly usage of “Pasangala” (Boys) and “Badava” (Bloody fellow) to address his followers, hits home with his target audience.
He says that though he has a huge fan base on Facebook, he is mostly active on Twitter, as he gets to connect with more people instantly, the idea being “more engagement, more influence”. He has had Indian bowler Ashwin Ravichandran reply to his posts and has even had a conversation on Twitter with Sri Lankan cricketer Russel Arnold.
Being anonymous and running a parody account is purely out of the love for cricket and entertainment, he says.
So what does he do when he hears a random person speak about his parody accounts?
“I sit quietly, eavesdrop and smile to myself,” he says.
Reporter’s note: With great power comes great responsibility and hence Srini Mama’s identity has to be kept secret.