Dhoni biopic director Neeraj Pandey not a fan of the cricketer
While there have been people who have fallen foul of MS Dhoni – India’s limited-overs captain – for reasons only best known to them, there have bene others who have not been a Dhoni fan traditionally. A surprising entrant to that list has been the director of the biopic on the cricketer that is about to be released, Neeraj Pandey. MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, starring Sushant Singh Rajput, is set to hit the cinemas on September 30, and the movie’s director, Pandey, has already garnered loads of accolades for his initiative. Nevertheless, despite the filmmaker’s interest in Dhoni’s life and career, he is, for one, not a big fan of Dhoni – the cricketer.
Neeraj told that despite following the Indian captain’s exploits on the field, he has never been a fan of the cricketer. “I am not a fan of Dhoni. I like AB De Villers and Sachin Tendulkar. But I am not a fan of these players as well. Dhoni also knows that I am not his fan,” Pandey told the Indian Express.
For this opinion, Pandey, however, has a strong reason to advocate. He said, “To put things in perspective, had I been a fan of Dhoni, I wouldn’t have been able to direct the movie in an unbiased fashion. Because I am not a fan, I could remain objective.”
Speaking about the on-screen Dhoni, i.e. the male lead in the movie, Rajput, the director seemed to be really pleased with both his choice, as well as the actor’s performances.
“Sushant was always my first choice. He comes from the same place as that of Dhoni. So he understands the dialect well. He is a keen observer of the game of cricket and above all, he is a brilliant actor.”
A movie made on an Indian cricketer of such admirable repute has to involve bylines from the legend’s fellow teammates as well, but Pandey, on being asked about the same, refused to reveal the names and urged the audience to go to the theaters to find out for themselves.
When the trailer was released, there were speculations that certain former cricketers such as Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, and Rahul Dravid were being projected as people ‘unfit’ for the Indian team in Dhoni’s opinion. These were mixed with the on-field incidents of the time and conclusions were drawn citing Dhoni to be the reason for these legends’ ouster from the limited-overs side.
However, the director has brushed aside all such speculations by asking people not to draw inferences from what the trailer may possibly suggest, and wait for the movie to release in order to get a clear picture. With so much already happening around the movie, the cricket fans in India would surely be lining-up to buy the tickets, come September 30.