Oct 03, 2016 03:31 PM
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MS Dhoni The Untold Story cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Anupam Kher, Rajesh Sharma, Bhumika Chawla, Kumud Mishra, Disha Patani, Kiara Advani, Harry Tangri
MS Dhoni The Untold Story director: Neeraj Pandey
To create a true, full-blooded biopic, filmmakers need a free-hand: MS Dhoni The Untold Story, which claims to give us Mahendra Singh Dhoni Uncut, is much more generous with details from his childhood and his days of struggle than from his blazing tenure as star wicketkeeper-batsman-captain of the Indian cricket team.
The result, with the exception of a few interesting bits and pieces, is bland and predictable. The over-long film cherry-picks the details it wants to serve us, skirting all grey areas and controversies: there are no smart nose-digs, only ingratiating bouquets; only hurrahs(the critique is so muted that we can barely hear it), and loud background music which is used to drum up emotion and drama.The quality of cricketing on screen is excellent. Rajput looks right at home with the bat and gloves, as do the other actors on the pitch. You wish there were some more cricketers — all significant contributors to Indian tests and one-day cricket and the glitzy T20 tournaments, during the years Dhoni entered and captained them — in this tale. For cricket is a team sport, right? MS Dhoni makes it seem like a one-man army.
This film had potential to present us with the recent Indian cricketing story, warts and all. Sadly it’s more hagiography than biography: the cricketer is reduced to a being singing-romancing Bollywood hero rather than a top-flight cricketer, a master strategist, and a captain who led from the front. True champions have that edge that no one else does: on that score, the real-life Dhoni hits it out of the park, every single time. Too bad the reel Dhoni gets stumped just when he is getting started.
