At 36, your emotions are not strong enough as they were when you were
in your teens. Perhaps that is the reason I will never feel the same
way about MS Dhoni as I felt about Sachin Tendulkar.
I have immense respect for Dhoni. I am one of those people who do not easily forget when someone does me a favor. MS Dhoni did that favor to me on April 2nd, 2011. He gave me one of my happiest days of my life. People say a lot of things about him, negative and positive. As is my nature, I neglect or respect their decision about negatives. But long since now, I have realized that I am better at picking out the positives of any person. Or may be I prefer to do that. I am happy with my choice.
To say that the teaser of this movie gave me goosebumps would be an understatement. But the real surprise was the trailer. It had some clips which one would consider to be controversial. It was evident that this movie will have the blessings of BCCI. This made me even more eager to watch it.
Sports movies are usually of two kinds - one which are of a single sportsperson and the other of a team. Either there is an immensely talented individual who is spotted by a coach/mentor/scout, gets an audience with the people who matter, and in the end proves himself/herself as a champion, with may be a sprinkle of love story thrown in. The other ones are of teams where a bunch of misfits brought together by a coach - his thought process is known only to him or God. The team goes through rough patches, in-fighting at first, people and at some times, coach, doubting them. They emerge through all the odds and start winning, and emerge champions.
This one was different.
That is why, it is very difficult for me to write about this movie and the man separately. They must be discussed together.
There are a lot of things in a sports-person's life that usually don't become part of their biography or movie. Most important of them is struggle. Most of the times, all the struggles are shown in one or may be two songs. The amount of struggle that Dhoni went through in his life as a cricketer may not be the greatest. But at some point in this movie, I began thinking that may be this movie is not about Dhoni the star, may be this is about Dhoni the struggler. We may never get to see the triumphs that he had, may be this movie will only show the failures that he endured. Which were overwhelmingly many. Sometimes due to sheer bad luck. And a person who can endure those failures, learn from each of them, and emerge as the phenomenon that he is now, is unbelievable.
When it comes to Dhoni, his batting is better known than his wicket-keeping. And when it comes to Dhoni's batting, first thing that comes to mind is the Helicopter. It is a shot that defines him - confidence, pinch of arrogance, innovation, and most importantly - fuck the orthodox. To give credit for something which defines you to someone else is a brave thing to do.
That is one of the best things that I liked about this movie. The tribute given to his parents. Almost all his coaches - right from his first to Gary Kirsten - are there. And most importantly, his friends. A very good friend of mine has his Whatsapp status, "My friends are my estate". For me, a man is defined by his friends. They stood by him and supported him right from his childhood to his days of struggle in the railways. It is a mark of a man who remembers his friends after his struggles are done.
There are some places where this movie becomes slow. But just as the man, whenever it struggles, it picks itself up. The climax gave me goosebumps, and tears. Like every Indian, I too have been waiting for 28 years to see my country lift the world cup of the sport which we love the most. I still remember that night - it did not, in Ravi Shastri's words, went down to the wire. But that was because of some great batting by Gautam Gambhir. But in the end, actually from somewhere near the middle, started an innings which, for me, will forever be the second greatest innings of all times in a one-day cricket match.
I always thought that MS Dhoni is a simple man. His cunning lies only inside the field. This biopic restored my faith. He truly is a simple person. Brilliance is at its best when it is simple.
I have immense respect for Dhoni. I am one of those people who do not easily forget when someone does me a favor. MS Dhoni did that favor to me on April 2nd, 2011. He gave me one of my happiest days of my life. People say a lot of things about him, negative and positive. As is my nature, I neglect or respect their decision about negatives. But long since now, I have realized that I am better at picking out the positives of any person. Or may be I prefer to do that. I am happy with my choice.
To say that the teaser of this movie gave me goosebumps would be an understatement. But the real surprise was the trailer. It had some clips which one would consider to be controversial. It was evident that this movie will have the blessings of BCCI. This made me even more eager to watch it.
Sports movies are usually of two kinds - one which are of a single sportsperson and the other of a team. Either there is an immensely talented individual who is spotted by a coach/mentor/scout, gets an audience with the people who matter, and in the end proves himself/herself as a champion, with may be a sprinkle of love story thrown in. The other ones are of teams where a bunch of misfits brought together by a coach - his thought process is known only to him or God. The team goes through rough patches, in-fighting at first, people and at some times, coach, doubting them. They emerge through all the odds and start winning, and emerge champions.
This one was different.
That is why, it is very difficult for me to write about this movie and the man separately. They must be discussed together.
There are a lot of things in a sports-person's life that usually don't become part of their biography or movie. Most important of them is struggle. Most of the times, all the struggles are shown in one or may be two songs. The amount of struggle that Dhoni went through in his life as a cricketer may not be the greatest. But at some point in this movie, I began thinking that may be this movie is not about Dhoni the star, may be this is about Dhoni the struggler. We may never get to see the triumphs that he had, may be this movie will only show the failures that he endured. Which were overwhelmingly many. Sometimes due to sheer bad luck. And a person who can endure those failures, learn from each of them, and emerge as the phenomenon that he is now, is unbelievable.
When it comes to Dhoni, his batting is better known than his wicket-keeping. And when it comes to Dhoni's batting, first thing that comes to mind is the Helicopter. It is a shot that defines him - confidence, pinch of arrogance, innovation, and most importantly - fuck the orthodox. To give credit for something which defines you to someone else is a brave thing to do.
That is one of the best things that I liked about this movie. The tribute given to his parents. Almost all his coaches - right from his first to Gary Kirsten - are there. And most importantly, his friends. A very good friend of mine has his Whatsapp status, "My friends are my estate". For me, a man is defined by his friends. They stood by him and supported him right from his childhood to his days of struggle in the railways. It is a mark of a man who remembers his friends after his struggles are done.
There are some places where this movie becomes slow. But just as the man, whenever it struggles, it picks itself up. The climax gave me goosebumps, and tears. Like every Indian, I too have been waiting for 28 years to see my country lift the world cup of the sport which we love the most. I still remember that night - it did not, in Ravi Shastri's words, went down to the wire. But that was because of some great batting by Gautam Gambhir. But in the end, actually from somewhere near the middle, started an innings which, for me, will forever be the second greatest innings of all times in a one-day cricket match.
I always thought that MS Dhoni is a simple man. His cunning lies only inside the field. This biopic restored my faith. He truly is a simple person. Brilliance is at its best when it is simple.
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