MS Dhoni The Untold Story - delightful first half, disappointing second half

Be it MSD the player, or MSD the film, the expectations have to be sky high. More often than not, the player has risen to the occasion, and met the expectations. Sometimes, he has failed too. Unfortunately, the film too will go down as a failure in rising up to those expectations.

The film is not without its merits. In fact describing it is pretty simple - it has a really good first half, and an utterly disappointing second half. Just like Dhoni, the film finishes in style, it even led to audience clapping in the end, but I guess the claps were mostly for MSD the player, and not really for the film.

Shot in Ranchi, in the actual colony where Dhoni lived, the school where he studied, the first half has done ample justice to the early days of Maahi. The screenplay is witty and realistic at the same time - you root for the lead character, and you are constantly entertained. (hume to "singhaada' sun ke hi mazaa aa jaata tha)

The small town limitations, the constant support of friends, a typically worried father, the middle class household, all come out really well. This said, couple of things which I believe were lacking here - a bit of that street smart, sort of awaara like attitude that we Ranchites have known Dhoni to display. That aspect was missing, as Maahi was shown in a perfect "nice boy" image always. Secondly, the fact that Dhoni studied in a school which is academically one of the best in the country, and produces some of the finest brains (ok, DPS is the best in Ranchi, but uske baad Shayamali :P) in all the conventional careers, is something that should have been explored. Just studying there as an academically average student (which Dhoni was) is a pressure in itself. And am not talking about these aspects because of the authenticity or relatability associated with them, but I genuinely feel exploring them would have created better moments and a better impact. This said, there are many scenes which are mundane details from his life, and yet are neatly done, and end up being impressive. The screenplay has had a keen eye for humor, and as mentioned, keeping the realism intact. A conversation on a railway platform with references to (simple) cricketing terminology, is a delight in itself. All in all, one cannot have many complains from the first half.

The problem is once Dhoni gets into the team, the storytelling goes for a toss. I would love to keep myself in the writer's shoes and acknowledge the limitations though. Since all the cricket footages are actual videos, so any scene involving other cricketers would have required them to act in the film, which obviously did not happen. The first half succeeds because it does justice to the roots of the character, and the challenges, and succeeds in answering why Dhoni never gave up - because of his passion and self belief. The second half fails because it fails on answering something that has to be a pivotal question of the biopic - once Dhoni got the opportunity, what was so special about him, that he was able to produce the magical results that he did. What gave him the kind of leadership skills he went on to display, why did he transform himself from a swashbuckling hitter to a reliable steady batsman (who was capable of shifting gears). The film had enough, and more potential, to explore these points, but this is where it loses focus of what its focal points should have been. If scenes with cricketers were an issue, it could have been brought out in conversations with friends, or even family.

Surprisingly, the film is full of missed opportunities in the second half. After a brilliant set up in first half, involving a young Yuvraj and Dhoni, the film absolutely misses out on golden opportunity of highlighting how they were finishing off so many matches together, in style. Maybe even how Dhoni, was standing at the other end when Yuvi hit 6 sixes. How Yuvi wa standing at other end, when Dhoni hit that winning six. How Yuvi was magical in 2007 T20 WC. 2008 final victory was shown, and we miss out on the detail that Sachin played 2 match winning knocks at a time when Dhoni was in the process of replacing older players with younger and fitter ones (can be presented in a perfectly non controversial manner).
We had Dhoni playing tennis ball cricket, and this part was given sufficient screen time in the first half. I am surprised that there was not enough hints thrown in the film, that such cricket gave Dhoni his unconventional style (sometimes a little spoon feeding is necessary for the audience)
This may seem like a minor detail to many, but the fact that Dhoni made significant improvements as a wicket keeper at international level, is also something which should have been addressed. Wicket keeping again has a lot of focus in first half, and goes missing in the second half.

The romantic angles are decent, the writing is pretty mature. But as plot points, they simply fail to create the impact. I am sure there are creative liberties already taken, I guess it needed to be more inventive. I am sure most people are going to find this angle pretty uninteresting.

This is not a bad film. The writing never loses that touch of maturity, so the film remains respectable.

However, it simply fails to do justice to the immense potential the life of the cricketing legend had.

If I had to sum it up, whatever the film chose to show, was written and executed well. The choice of these elements, the settings, the characters, work out well in the first half, but leave a lot to be desired in the second half.

Honestly, disappointed with the film. But I guess, one should watch it once. The film ends with flashes of (actual) Mahendra Singh Dhoni. I am sure in most theatres, people will not be able to stop themselves from applauding, for that visual alone.

Btw, the 3 major theatres in Ranchi are running around 12 shows each for the film. Almost all the shows for the day are completely sold out (such a response for any film, ever, is unheard of in the city) . I suddenly feel this urge to watch this film in the city, the city which is such a lovely and interesting character of the film. I can only imagine what would be the experience like, back in Ranch