MS Dhoni - The Untold Story Review

It’s always tough taking a Biography, writing it might be easier but as a movie the immense pressure in bringing the truth that too when the celebrity is in still in his prime is altogether a different story.  If you are a Dhoni fan, you should absolutely relish each and every segment of the movie, if not you will still see the struggle of a youngster to break free from his run of the mill job and how he pursues his passion.

If you have watched the trailer it’s almost a short clip of the movie itself, a talented football Goalkeeper in DAV school grabs attention and is shaped into a wicket keeper. As in any normal middle class Indian family, studies take precedence when it comes to the tug of war between education and anything else that the child loves. Neeraj captures the essence beautifully and by casting Anupam Kher as Dhoni’s father, the dice gets rolling with a nervous father who cares for his son very much, toils hard to keep ends meet and is set with the mindset of Job that gives money takes a step before pursuing your passion. While this is being established on one side, MSD silently creeps into everyone’s mind with his carefree hitting.

As Sushant steps into the screen as Dhoni it gets a little difficult at first to accept, but as the movie unveils we almost forget who the real Dhoni is, for the commitment, mannerism is spot on. The cream of the film is by all means in the first half, where the real struggle is portrayed amicably. The plot does not get too much into the politics of selection, it might be rather a clever move to avoid unnecessary attention, and the movie gets rather more into the cricketer’s personal challenges and does a motivational jig to show how his career graph went spiking.

After establishing family sentiments, friendship, struggle the second half turns romantic by touching the love interests of MSD, best to watch and find out as you surely are to find some interesting snippets from the actor’s life. The screenplay suffers greatly in the second half in dealing with the love life, probably the first half establishes more on the actor’s cricket and it becomes difficult to come in terms with something else. Through the second half we are made to wait to see if MSD gives a peek into the dressing room, words on his co-players but that’s very limited making the movie more on a personal front. There are indeed a few situations, like the World Cup T20 and 50 over finals which has been covered aesthetically more from the cricketer and his family perspective. With Dhoni already active in cricket, most of the memories in the movie are fresh in our minds, no wonder Neeraj and team have done a good job in detailing and research. It’s quite a risky business taking a biopic when the cricketer is still in his prime, by dealing more on the personal milieu the movie should really cater well among all types of audiences.

The romantic track involving Dhoni and Sakshi should have been cut short.  The Bollywood trappings get the better of Neeraj in these portions.

Also, there should have been snazzy narration of the kind we see in the scene where Yuvraj Singh as a national player defeats Dhoni with his mere attitude.  The actor who played Yuvraj is mind-blowing in resemblance.

The major credits should go to Sushanth, for you stop realizing who the real Dhoni is. His acting skills need no explanation and to put it like a commentator "He does the bat do the talking". Neeraj has done his homework to a great extent by capturing the real essence, friendship, sentiment, family, love, and artwork and of course cricket. Walking out of the movie you are sure to find out why it took so long for the man to make his debut, how he dealt with failure and moved on. As a fan you surely would expect how Dhoni managed to keep his calm, or rather kept his cool, none of them have been covered which is really disappointing.

Verdict: Good casting, emotional moments, terrific performances, and the awe that the persona of Dhoni invokes in us keep the audience hooked to the movie.  Watch it for all these.