There are movies which you enjoy by switching off your
brains. But, nevertheless, you enjoy them. There are movies which you watch so
intently that you try to anticipate the next scene or the story. And, then there
are movies which in parallel trigger thoughts in you while you are watching the
movie. You start relating some incidents or events in your life to the scenes
in the movie. Or, some scenes make you reflect on your past or present from a
new perspective. That is power of Cinema and am totally besotted with it. The
last movie, that was such soul stirring to me, was Airlift and I felt compelled
to write (Read here) what went in my mind when I watched it. And, recently there have been
two more such movies, Pink and M S Dhoni: The Untold Story.
Today, I will write only about M S Dhoni because I just can’t
get it out of my head after watching it in the evening. It is a very simple
story and very simplistically told too. There are many such rags to riches
stories around us which we know of; of actors, of businessmen and of other
sportsmen too. So, what is special about M S Dhoni? I think, the movie is
extraordinary because it has a soul. Every such movie has a soul. You connect
with the movie from the very first frame. That is what is special about Pink
and Airlift too.
M S Dhoni is a celebration of human virtues – empathy,
kindness, generosity, self-belief, patriotism and above all friendship. Yes, I
placed friendship above patriotism. Because it is friendship which makes a man
human. It is friendship which binds people. It is friendship which transcends
into love and spirituality.
M S Dhoni movie is special because it showcases so well that
the success of a person is not his alone. It is the success of all the people
who have helped the person throughout his journey. The movie does well in acknowledging
that. From parents to friends and well-wishers to colleagues everyone has had a
contribution in making Dhoni, who we know of. And, this is something we tend to
forget in our lives. It is the entire ecosystem of support and love which makes
a person successful.
What if that friend Santosh had not taught Dhoni the
celebrated Helicopter shot? What if his Sardar friend had not managed to get someone
to sponsor the cricket kit to him? What if his mother and sister had not
encouraged him and prayed for him? What if the school coach had not spotted
him? What if he had not seen the hardwork, dedication and discipline of his
father? There are so many what if’s. The point is - how much do we remember from
our own lives? How much do we acknowledge and to how many?
Well, everyone cannot be a Dhoni to have a movie being made
on his life. But, we can definitely take a pause sometimes and look back. Look
back to acknowledge these people and say thanks to them. Because it may be too late
if we want to do that as per our convenience at some point. Many of them may not
be there. That is the reason I guess M S Dhoni makes so much sense because he got
such a movie made when most of those would still be around.
Rakesh Roshan Bhat (RRB)
