MS Dhoni: The Untold Story — Quite a helicopter shot

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Anupam Kher, Bhumika Chawla, Kiara Advani, Disha Patani, Rajesh Sharma

Rated: 8/10

Neeraj Pandey. Bravo for this well told, somewhat untold story. Not because Dhoni is my favourite captain but because you have caught him the best way he could have been caught on tape. You have given this sport biopic real colour and real bite. Sushant Singh has impeccably captured MS Dhoni’s gait, walk, posture, enigma and every little detail that could find expression in the best way possible.

Even your choice of characters is near perfect. Jagmohan Dalmiya looks like the real one, so does Kiran More, Ratnakar Shetty and all others at the BCCI. All except for Dilip Vengsarkar who plays super selector who brought in Dhoni through the Cricket Board’s two-three-towns initiative of talent hunt.

For a person like me who has spent time at all the career turning matches Dhoni has played, it was like reliving the entire experience which means you have done the research well.

The struggles that Dhoni encountered and defeated as he rose from being a ticket collector with the Railways to becoming the best ever and most lionised captain of the Indian Cricket Team have been shown as they happened. No melodrama and no playing to the gallery.

So the first half is simply revetting. The flaws come in when Pandey starts to delve too much into Dhoni’s love life. Yes, the thing about his first girlfriend who was incidentally not Sakshi is something few know. But the two love stories take too much time and Sakshi (played by Kiara Advani) is the only one who does not look herself despite being overtly bubbly.

Other than that, the film is unifocussed on his struggle to stardom and tells you very few things about the time he spent after becoming a star. The goings on in the dressing room, the team politics and some of his controversial decisions, the CSK era and all else have been swept aside without being detailed.

But the film still has moments, many of them. It evokes applause, whistles in the hall, it is drawing in the crowds and it is also bringing moisture to eyes.

A good watch for both Dhoni and non-Dhoni fans.  

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 2 October, 2016