India is a nation of over 1.2 billion people. This emperical size has a lot of dreams and aspirations. Only handful of them succeed and make it to Bollywood and Cricket. Of course, these two are the most popular career choices of the people when academia gives them the nightmares. M. S. Dhoni is one name which is popular not only in Cricket but in Bollywood as well. That itself speaks a lot about the calibre and class of a character who is the second most important person in India after Sachin Tendulkar. Therefore, a biopic on him should set some bar.
Neeraj Pandey is one Indian film-maker who always sets the bar as high as some of the other big names in Indian cinema. His past creations such as A Wednesday, Special 26, and Baby have all raised the standards of Indian cinema to a new level. But his latest creation, M.S. Dhoni, falls short on his abilities. The art of movie making has gone missing. His latest flick is only an example of a regular mainstream Bollywood movie. I really don’t know if this was deliberate or an honest mistake.
The attempt to make an untold story is merely a punchline. The script and screenplay are not crisp and lacks craftsmanship. This could have easily been a strong and thumping story. We, in our timeline, all know about M.S. Dhoni and so the joy of seeing this player on ground is something of an experience. Sushant Singh Rajput never appealed to me as M. S. Dhoni and he lacks those certain charismatic expressions that our Captain Cool is known to demonstrate on the field. His major attractions on the field are his ability to do stumpings in a flash, racing up for a single or converting it into a double, and positioning his players at the right spot on the field. The least that should have been done is to just play those original clippings of his cricket matches. That would have justified M S Dhoni as a brand.
The music in the movie is at par with the current standards. Amaal Malik neither disappoints nor excites with his take. Other actors did a fairly good job and somewhat better than Sushant Singh Rajput. The lead actor did put all his toil into becoming someone who he can never match at any level. His female co-stars were rather better than him. Don’t take me wrong here, I’m not saying by the looks but by the acting skills.
Despite all the demerits in the movie, this flick still delivers the same overall experience of the popular Chak De India!. This could be due to the fact that the treatment is somewhat similar to any mainstream Bollywood movie. And the movie promos definitely made it a sensation. The original story behind any successful person is always a cliché. But there is no doubt that Dhoni’s personal life is in itself inspiring for any new cricketer. Neeraj Pandey’s flick solely relies and rides on it.