If the first
half of the movie appeared promising and managed to build just the precise
momentum, the flagging second half loses it completely. The pedestrian storyline,
the glossing over of certain controversies around him and going off course with
the tame romantic plot (unnecessary love songs to digress further) beside the
unbearable length of the movie makes it a pretty mediocre watch in the end. Nevertheless,
the first half had it’s moments tugging you towards the movie. Second half is
where it got all wrong. The early euphoria gave way to monotony.
The movie
seems to be a hymn made in praise of Dhoni, sidestepping some very significant stages
in his life, airbrushing some controversies he was dragged into, namely, the
spot fixing controversy in 2013, his difficult relationship with Yuvraj, the
storm over his conflict of interest with Rhiti sports and the apparent rift
with some of the senior players. We don’t get any kind of cricketing relationships
at all. It failed to delineate the
journey within, losing track completely in the second half. No insights either of anything ‘UNTOLD’ here. A total screen time of
almost 3hr 15mins takes you to another level of boredom. However, watch it once
if you may, for Sushant Singh Rajput, who
imbibes Dhoni completely- his lopsided walk, calmness and mannerisms- thus, convincingly
striding in his shoes and doing justice to the role.
The movie
starts with the epic World Cup final 2011 at Wankhede, with Dhoni deciding to
come in to bat ahead of Yuvraj before taking us back to his hometown from where
he started his journey. We enter into
the small sleepy town in the middle class setting where a ‘settled’ life is all
about a government job and surviving the societal conventions. Dhoni as a
school kid, was spotted by his sports coach and was introduced to keeping.
Dhoni rose to play the state level and beyond, much against his unwilling
father, who was keen to see his son do well in studies and settle down with a job.
He started practicing and even learnt
the now famous helicopter shot from Santosh. ‘Thappad shot’ was what he called
it.
After much
struggle and missing out on playing for Under 19 India, Dhoni landed a job in
Kharagpur railway station and started practising after his shift before finally
deciding to give all his devotion to cricket, leaving his job. The mechanical
rut he was stuck into, frustrated him no end and he yearned to break free. A dramatic
scene particularly defines his transformation towards the end of first
half: While DHoni sat despairingly on
the empty platform amid the rain, a train arrives and when it was about to
depart, he got into it. The departing train was the fitting metaphor of letting
go of what’s holding him back and taking the leap of faith; listening to the
still small voice of his conscience. Brilliantly executed scene in monochrome.
Second half
is where it got all wrong. It hit a few false notes and could not recover from
there. The movie could not soar, though
it had the potential.
