M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story – A celebration of human virtues

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)