‘Bhai, Hindi aati hai?’ – When Neeraj Chopra turned down Rahul Bose’s help as translator

Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra at a felicitation event in Lucknow. (Photo: PTI)

Gold medallist Neeraj Chopra has become India’s poster boy since his remarkable showing at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this month. The Indian javelin star is the toast of the town attending innumerable felicitation events since his return to India.

But Neeraj Chopra was a star in the making, years before he became India’s second individual gold medal-winner at the Olympics after Abhinav Bindra. The Haryana athlete was unabashedly proud of his roots and preferred to communicate in Hindi over English at a 2018 literary festival, where hea was a guest of honour alongside Bollywood actor Rahul Bose.

While taking questions from the audience at the event, one of the attendees wanted to ask him about how he deals with setbacks in his sporting career. Obviously, his first instinct was to ask the question in English.

“I would like to ask you a question that at times you’d get frustrated because of that...” he began to talk on the microphone but was paused in his ways when the athlete, while trying his best not to offend anyone, asked him if he knew Hindi and requested him to ask his question in the same language as well.

“Bhai, hello, Hindi aati hai aapko? Hindi mein poochh lo yaar (Brother, do you know Hindi? Ask the question in Hindi),” he said with a big smile on his face as the audience laughed and clapped as well.

Actor Rahul Bose offered to help him with his translation needs, but Neeraj Chopra had taken care of the problem all by himself. His response had done the work for him and the attendee was all set to ask his question.

“Jab aap ek level ke upar nahi jaa paate apne sport mein toh uss time ki frustration ko aap kaise mitate ho?” he asked with a lot more intention and seriousness on his face.

“Haan, bilkul bhai, aisa hota hai ki humara performance atak jaata hai aur hum kitni bhi training karlein… injury hoti hai ek khiladi ke life mein jo sabse zada rukawat leke aati hai. Toh hum yahi koshish karte hein ki injury aane de kyunki injury ek baar aajati hai toh wohi performance wapas laane ke lie humme do saal bhi lag sakte hein,” said Neeraj back then.

Watch the video of the interaction here...

Meanwhile, the name Neeraj Chopra has been on the lips on every Indian since he achieved the impossible by winning the Tokyo Olympics gold medal in a track-and-field event. It is no wonder that the 23-year-old from Samalkha has become a national heartthrob especially among young girls including Bollywood star Kiara Advani.

During a promotional interview with Sports Yaari for her recently released film ‘Shershaah’, when popular actors Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani were asked about Neeraj Chopra’s emphatic Olympic gold medal win and how he has catapulted to being a national hero, the stars replied: “He is the real ‘Shershaah’ who has made the country proud,” said Sidharth Malhotra.

“I think he (Neeraj Chopra) is not just a national crush but the world’s crush right now,” said Kiara Advani.