Screen Share | Rousing stories of sporting greats who beat the odds

While most sports biopics suffer from a templated treatment, some quality films balance emotional beats with sporting significance to offer a stirring experience

Sitting inside the theatre for the first show of MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, I felt the atmosphere of a packed cricket stadium. It’s as if the cheering crowd was waiting for the highlights — marked by fours, sixes, and crazy dismissals behind the stumps — of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s greatness.

A huge reach combined with big budgets has helped Bollywood attempt several sports biopics. But too much is too bad, and the industry has squeezed out the genre like a well-served tube of toothpaste. These days, Hindi sports biopics lack a distinct personality. 

Thankfully, in 2016, director Neeraj Pandey’s film was a carefully crafted world-building process, showing Dhoni’s unusual journey towards cricketing greatness. I would recommend MS Dhoni: The Untold Story to anyone looking for an Indian sports biopic that balances entertainment with relatable storytelling. 

Pandey’s challenge was interpreting the persona of a man who seldom spoke outside of press conferences and presentation ceremonies. He was majorly helped by Sushant Singh Rajput, who not only got the former Indian captain’s body language right, but also reflected Dhoni’s famed composed attitude with aplomb.

The film was released when Dhoni was still an IPL star and a fading Indian cricketer. As much as it was about the film’s craft, it was the easily recognisable aura of Dhoni which connected with people, especially those from the younger generation, who frequently fill up movie halls.

Perhaps for the same reason, Kabir Khan’s 83 didn’t stir them up. Are young movie lovers not bothered about our past? I laughed when a college student reacted in shock when an Indian batsman got out in one of the scenes from the movie. Don’t tell me he didn’t know the outcome of the 1983 cricket World Cup final!

83 is a must-watch for its meticulous recollection (the casting is spot on, and the sporting moments are accurate) of an Indian cricket team that considered dreaming of winning the World Cup a nice joke till it got inspired by its captain, Kapil Dev. Ranveer Singh, playing Kapil, is superb as the classic underdog who tightly held on to his never-say-die spirit.