The curious thing about the M.S. Dhoni —The Untold Story, is that not one of the Indian ODI skipper’s Team India colleagues or Chennai Super Kings’ players we spoke to, have seen it. All of them say they intend to do so soon! One junior player said, “We hoped there would be a special screening of the film for us.”
Surely, Mr Cool could have invited his teammates for the preview of his film. Or at least sent them special passes for the screening in their respective cities — the film released all over India and MSD was all out to promote the film in most cities. Pictures posted on social media show Dhoni at the preview only with few select friends, and none of them are cricketers!
Come to think of it, and to be fair, Dhoni did not invite any cricketer for his wedding either. Maybe he likes it that way — to not be in the limelight.
Defending his reserved nature, Ayaz Memon, sports journalist and columnist, says, “Dhoni is an enigmatic personality and he keeps his reserve. He’s not a loner per se, but he always prefers his own company, and you’ll rarely even see him going out for fancy dinners with his team mates. I really cannot think of many other players who have a personality like Dhoni’s.
Outside of cricket, he’s is passionate about bikes and his arms. He’s got special affinity to two wheelers and you’ll see him checking out bikes wherever he goes.
As a journalist, it’s difficult to ferret out information out of Dhoni.
Even under duress, he knows how to measure his words. He’s very candid in press conferences, but outside of it, it’s difficult to get him to open up. Since the media travels with the teams these days, over the years, I’ve seen players confiding in journalists, sometimes even becoming team informers, but never Dhoni.
You’ll not find a single journalist who says ‘Oh, I heard this from Dhoni.’ Initially, one would think his reserved nature stems from the fact that he came from a small town and burst into the first team, but this has been a quality he’s had throughout his own career. I too haven’t watched the film yet, but plan to.”
Virender Sehwag
“No, I haven’t watched Dhoni’s biopic.” His wife Aarti clarifies, “Viru hasn’t watched it yet, but yes, we will.” The film does hint at a rivalry between Dhoni and Sehwag, but they refused to comment.
Suresh Raina
Dhoni and he are known to be very close friends, but Raina too hasn’t watched the film. His brother Dinesh says, “Suresh hasn’t yet watched the movie. But will certainly do so. Our entire family plans to watch it together.”
S. Badrinath, Hyd Ranji captain, Dhoni’s CSK teammate
“We (Hyderabad Ranji team) have been preparing really hard in Hyderabad, that’s the reason I haven’t watched the movie yet. A lot of people are talking about the biopic. I think it’s an interesting movie.”
Pragyan Ohja
“I haven’t seen the movie but have heard about it. I haven’t read the reviews either. I will watch the biopic for sure.”
