{"id":18086,"date":"2017-09-17T08:41:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T07:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jbvip365.com\/?p=18086"},"modified":"2017-09-17T08:41:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T07:41:35","slug":"ms-dhoni-the-untold-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jbvip365.com\/ms-dhoni-the-untold-story\/","title":{"rendered":"MS Dhoni\u2014The Untold Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve had the dvd of this biopic with me for over a year but its only now that I decided to watch it since I am currently working on the 4^{th<\/sup> updated edition of my 2008 book, Captain Cool: The MS Dhoni Story<\/em> (Westland)<\/em> the last edition of which was released in September 2013.<\/p>\n}

It was a throwaway line in a recent review of another Dhoni bio\u2014mine was the first, many more have since followed\u2014by Martin that gave me the impetus to bring out an update of this book (thanks Martin!)<\/em> that has sold over 40,000 copies in English alone (there have been other editions in numerous Indian languages and mobile downloads as well).<\/p>\n

My review of the Sachin Tendulkar biopic (Sachin: A Billion Dreams)<\/em> was published in the August edition of The Cricketer. <\/em>But in that movie\/biopic\/documentary it\u2019s only his early years that are depicted by actors. The rest of it is actual stock footage which we have all seen countless times.<\/p>\n

I always find it charming to see actors playing real-life sportspersons and can\u2019t wait to the catch the Borg–McEnroe movie just released. The Channel Nine<\/em> TV docudrama on WSC (Howzat! Kerry Packer\u2019s War)<\/em> is delightful for that reason alone\u2014where do you find a 6ft 6in blonde guy with a South African accent to play Tony Greig, for crying out loud?!<\/p>\n

The casting is excellent here especially a teenaged Yuvraj Singh, complete with chubby cheeks, curly hair and swaggering attitude, played expertly by Herri Tangri\u2014it was eye-popping to see an actor who looked like the young Yuvraj\u2019s doppelganger.<\/p>\n

With the clever use of CGI, the SFX people have juxtaposed actor Sushant Singh Rajput\u2019s face (he is outstanding) onto actual footage of Dhoni in action to excellent effect<\/p>\n

I must admit to getting emotional watching the small-town struggle of a talented youngster and how he rises to the top through dint of sheer talent and determination despite a system that is not always supportive. Being a small-town boy myself (excluding three years in London) and having paid particular attention to that part of Dhoni\u2019s life, I felt a real connect as if I was part of the story.<\/p>\n

I spent a year in the small industrial town of Ranchi where Dhoni was born. It was 1973, I was 14-years-old and my elder brother and I were involved for the first time in organized matches with our club which I named K5<\/em>\u2014Krazy Kool Katz<\/em> Kricket Klub <\/em>(I was the wicket-keeper; bro the captain)–hey, it was the psychedelic 70s and I was already a fan of David Bowie, OK?!<\/p>\n

I have vivid memories of that one year and many places where the movie was shot in Ranchi –the cricket grounds, schools, markets, roads, and the office blocks where our Dad worked, all looked uncannily familiar to me and had me awash in nostalgia.<\/p>\n

The \u2018untold\u2019 part of the movie is the depiction of Dhoni\u2019s first romance with a young lady, Priyanka Jha\u2014this was something that skipped my attention when I was researching and writing and indeed startled his fans and the media.<\/p>\n

Priyanka was killed in a car accident in Delhi in 2002 before Dhoni made it to the national team. But with the kind of artistic license usually associated with sporting biopics, she is shown as having died in 2004 after he had made the big time. Apparently the tragedy nearly derailed the MS Dhoni story before it really began and full credit to him for allowing it to be depicted so vividly\u2014the movie after all has been produced by his manager and his agency.<\/p>\n

A few delightful vignettes must get a mention here\u2014Mahi\u2019s father played beautifully by famed actor Anupam Kher who is bald in real life\u2014he starts off with hair (a wig of course) and as he ages, reverts to his natural bald look; his school coach Bannerjee\u2019s wife\u2019s haggling in the fish market and her repeated queries of \u201cchai khaabo?\u201d<\/em> (Bengali for \u201cdo you want to drink tea?\u201d) for all occasions, both high and low! And Dhoni\u2019s first meeting with future wife Sakshi when she is a trainee receptionist at a Kolkata hotel and does not recognize him (though going by some reviews, this is also \u201cartistic license\u201d in action).<\/p>\n

If I had to give it a star rating, I would go with 8 out of 10.<\/p>\n

—Gulu\u2019s biography of Dhoni, Captain Cool: The MS Dhoni Story<\/em> (Westland–4^{th<\/sup> updated edition) with a foreword by Farokh Engineer is due for release later this year<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>\n}

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