M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016)

Director: Neeraj Pandey

Story: Neeraj Pandey, Dilip Jha

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Disha Patani, Kiara Advani

Music: Sanjoy Chowdhury, Rochak Kohli, Amaal Mallik

Time: 190 minutes

Bottom-line: A good attempt to make a biopic, but could have been a lot better

The man, we know; his story, we don’t.

Cricket fan or not, every Indian knows the man Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain famous for making India win the cricket World Cup at its home ground, 28 years after the first victory. In 2016, Neeraj Pandey brings his life to the big screen, and the film starts off with none other than the finals of the 2011 ICC Cup, with the timeframe quickly shifting to Dhoni’s childhood. Like any typical middle class Indian family, education always comes first to the parents. Somehow, in Dhoni’s case, his parents fully support his career, with a high level of commitment from his side as well. The story goes on to show his journey as a ticket collector, his two love interests, and his progress in the Indian team till the night he leads his team to the World Cup victory.

 

Rajput as Dhoni, with Patani as Priyanka

Biopics usually have a much higher chance of leading to controversial issues compared to other films, and even more so when the person you’re filming about is alive, and in this case, the person is still active in his career too! The story has several strengths, the important ones being that most facts are true, and the parts of the movie shown after his entry into the Indian team are chosen correctly (and even scenes like the encounters with Yuvraj Singh), in the sense, to see all the memorable moments that track Dhoni’s success on screen would bring a smile to all his fans, and Pandey did well to capture the highlights of his career (his first match, to the 2007 World Cup exit and subsequent outrages of the public, to the T-20 win…).

When the movie title mentioned “The Untold Story”, it probably referred to the part where he had to work as a ticket collector to play cricket – the dilemma Dhoni had to face to choose between full-time cricket for his improvement, or part-time to earn the much-needed income for his family – and his love life; the second one with Sakshi (Advani) is something that a lot of people know, while the first, with Priyanka (Patani) – a girl whom he meets on the plane – which is verified as true by a number of sources, is lesser known. Her character could have been cut off completely, in my view; it interferes into Dhoni’s privacy a lot more than needed, apart from adding another 40 minutes to the screen time. The film doesn’t show much of his struggle either, except for that one dilemma.

 Advani as Sakshi, with Rajput

The (only) good thing that came out of this, is the song “Phir Kabhi”, which, along with “Besaabariyan”, are quite melodious (and finding such songs is becoming rarer by the day!). The acting by Sushant is top-notch. He pulls off the role with style, and whether it is Dhoni on the field, off the field, as a teenager or much older, Sushant is adept in his acting. His face has been morphed into many live match scenes which feature Dhoni. Anupam Kher, as always, has done well; he plays the role of Dhoni’s father, supporting him all the way. There are a lot of one-liners and jokes that come up here and there, which blend in well with the main track.

 

Kher as Dhoni's father

Overall, the story could have been much crisper, even if the aim of the movie was to bring out the personal life of Dhoni. The acting by Sushant overshadows the average performances of Patani and Advani, and the music is superb. As a biopic, the film needs a lot of improvement, but if you are a Dhoni fan, then M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story will be a delight.

My Rating: 3/5