M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story Movie Review by Sputnik

Coaches, mentors and friends inspire young M.S. Dhoni (Sushant Singh Rajput) to become a master cricketer and captain of Team India.

The first half is absolutely brilliant. The way a middle class Dhoni struggles to break into the Indian team is so inspiring. The brief tragic love track is excellent too. The second half falters though as there is not really much to show after his success. The movie strictly avoids showing any other players or any incidents from the dressing room. The movie briefly hazes through some incidents like the Twenty20 Final, his rise to captaincy and dropping some players. The climax is the 2011 World Cup Final. The movie can be said to be a tribute from a fan though Neeraj Pandey has denied that he is his fan. The movie credits all the people from friends, coach and others who contributed to his success. The vfx are done well imposing Sushant’s face on Dhoni from some match presentation ceremonies.

The movie is more or less true to Dhoni’s real life story from what I have read. There are some changes in chronology though as he is shown to meet his girlfriend Priyanka after he got selected in the Indian team whereas he met her before he was selected in the Indian team. I think the movie should have stuck to the original story and I think it would have made his entry to the Indian team even more inspiring. The movie has omitted his real life brother completely from the movie though. Here is a link which talks about that.

Sushant Singh Rajput is excellent as Dhoni. This is his career best performance. I had in the past commented that I do not like him and think he is an overrated actor and that he is too earnest in his performances. I take my words back and admit I was wrong. I think this was a role he was born to do. I think with him being from the same area and from a middle class background, he completely nailed the role. He looked good in the cricketing scenes.

Disha Patani looked lovely and was very good in a brief role. Kiara Advani was good too as Sakshi. Anupam Kher was very good as the typical middle class father who wants his son to just get a good government job. Bhumika Chawla was ok as the elder sister. She really did not have much to do. Rajesh Sharma was very good as Dhoni’s coach. Kumud Mishra was good as Deval Sahay. Sandeep Nahar was very good as his Sikh friend and Kranti Prakash Jha was very good as his friend Santosh from whom he learns the helicopter shot. Herry Tangri looked so similar to a young Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Mankani looked like Jagmohan Dalmiya.

Neeraj Pandey is definitely one of the best directors in India currently and arguably the best. A Wednesday, Special 26, Baby and now Dhoni. Dhoni is recommended for all cricket fans and a must watch for Dhoni fans.

Recommended

P.S. This was originally a comment made in August 2017.