Neeraj Pandey and Sushant Singh Rajput defend MS Dhoni biopic over Gautam Gambhir's remarks

Sushant claimed that there was nothing wrong in making inspirational movies such as the one about Dhoni

Following Indian international Gautam Gambhir’s controversial remarks criticising MS Dhoni’s upcoming biopic titled ‘MS Dhoni – The Untold Story’, the director of the movie Neeraj Pandey as well as Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who plays the role of India’s skipper in the shorter formats of the game, defended the movie claiming that it was their right and duty to make movies about all genres.

When asked about his thoughts on Dhoni’s biopic, Gambhir had stated that he was against the notion of making biopics on cricketers and that he would rather want such movies to be based on individuals who had done much more service to the country like soldiers and other eminent personalities in other walks of life. 

Following the negative vibes created by his comments, that also drew opposition from Dhoni’s close pal Suresh Raina, Gambhir was forced to tone down his remarks but the director of the biopic feels Gambhir is wrong in implying that movies should not be based on the life of cricketers or sportspersons.

He even jibed that since Dhoni holds the rank of Lt Colonel in the Indian Army, Gambhir has very little to complain about the matter. Having made a patriotic movie like the Akshay Kumar-starrer Baby already, Neeraj Pandey feels that a filmmaker should be able to make all kinds of movies rather than being restricted to any particular genre. 

“I’ve made films on both. We make stories. It’s not that every film should be of a particular genre or anything like that. I think as storytellers we need to talk about everything,” said Neeraj. “This story is about the hero in us. It’s a very motivational inspiring story. That can come from anyone. And MS (Dhoni) is a serving Lt Colonel in the Indian Army. So that should answer your questions.”

Sushant, who underwent a lot of physical training to get in perfect shape for playing the role of Dhoni in the movie, also backed his director's comments stating that there was nothing wrong in making different types of movies, especially when it as inspiring a one as Dhoni, who rose from being a railway ticket inspector to being one of the most successful Indian skippers in its history. 

“Films are made on stories. I’ve played an engineer five times in the theater. The story wasn’t on an engineer, but the inherent story. If the story is worth telling, then you can play anything,” he said.

The movie, which has generated much buzz already, will hit theaters across the nation on September 30, but the man himself has already watched the movie and the director explained how Dhoni’s reactions at the end of the movie has given him a huge slice of confidence about the prospects of the movie.

“We both were silent for about ten minutes after we had seen the film. That goes to say he must’ve liked it. There was nothing to say,” Neeraj said.