Well played

Nonika Singh

Cricket and cinema are the two religions that unify India like no other glue can. So, what happens when the two come together not merely to celebrate cricket but more importantly to mark the journey of one of its great, if not the greatest, cricketing heroes? Well, for a start the film gets a record 4,500 screens across 60 countries.

And on that screen the current captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs format Mahendra Singh Dhoni acquires a life, expectedly inspirational, for how many small town boys from Ranchi get to make it this big? 

No quarrels that it’s a story that has to be told and Pandey promises untold bits and tells it from the start to...well, we can’t say finish for Dhoni’s innings is not over as yet. But yes, he has given Indian cricket many milestones to cherish. Hmm…, but we all already know that. So, how do you make it all work on celluloid screen? By first recounting what is lesser known, and by focussing on the people close to him and those who mentored him.

So, bit by bit we get to know how his talent was spotted by a school teacher, how his friends stood by him through thick and thin and how a reluctant middle class father finally relented to back his dreams. And through all this we stand transfixed as Sushant Singh Rajput becomes Dhoni, every inch of the way. Be it as a youngster, who has the confidence to open the innings in an inter-school cricket match or as a dismayed ticket collector, who feels time is slipping by or finally as the cocksure captain of Indian team, this is one helluva innings that he gets to play. And one that he can be as proud of as the real man he is playing.

Where Pandey truly scores is by mirroring the ups and downs of Dhoni’s cricketing career through people close to him. It’s through them that we rejoice in his achievements and brace his disappointments. Mahi’s journey becomes theirs and through them our very own as we get to relive moments that have made cricketing history. 

Never mind that the film is more than three hours long and that Pandey has chosen almost a linear graph to tell it all. Expectedly the film is cricket, cricket and more cricket, yet it doesn’t bore you with techniques and plays it out in a language the cricket crazy nation easily understands.  Amidst Dhoni’s swashbuckling sixers, romance takes a backseat.

It surfaces only in the second half by introducing us to two loves in his life, one of whom is now his wife Sakshi. The girls (Disha Patani and Kiara Advani), who play the love interests, are fresh and pretty and do justice to their small parts. But it’s the radiant joy on the face of Bhoomika Chawla playing Dhoni’s sister that is truly infectious.

Cleverly Pandey stays away from the politics of cricket and doesn’t wade into contentious waters. There is only a passing mention of the rift between Dhoni and Sehwag. Indeed, there is no attempt to paint Dhoni as some kind of a demigod but then except for one scene, his inner dilemmas too remain with him.

Of course, you can’t expect a biopic to be insensitive to the feelings of a living hero and to millions of his fans. So a hero, he sure remains only a human and relatable one, and for that the credit goes to Sushant. Sushant, in fact, doesn't strike a single false note or cricketing stance.

Indeed, the film is a treat for the Mahi’s fan club and cricket aficionados in general as it dots the journey of man who lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup on 2 April 2011 for us after a drought of 28 years. But, even if you are not a cricket maniac, it has enough excitement of the game to keep you engrossed.