Movies that feature sports give a huge high. Throw in an underdog, add in generous doses of struggle and finally show the triumph of human spirit, success and fame. What’s not to like? It will move even the less emotional among us. Also, these are wonderful movies to watch with kids. You are revealing to them good role models and also showing them the value of things like discipline, perseverance, hard work and so on which seem unpalatable especially when coming out of parents’ mouth.
December end was a movie binge period for our family. My husband, who normally stays away from Hindi movies, was also pulled in the hurricane that hit our family. 🙂 One of the movies we watched was MS Dhoni – The Untold Story.
Whether you have kids or not, this movie is worth a watch or even more. No, I won’t bore you with a review; you may have already read a number of them. I will just dwell upon what I related to in the movie.
MS Dhoni – The Untold Story is the tale of the rise of M S Dhoni, the iconic wicketkeeper-batsman and captain of the Indian cricket team who scaled great heights. I have watched his career shape up as that was I time I used to watch cricket regularly. I have admired him for some spectacular qualities like his calm under immense pressure, his impeccable conduct both on and off the field (men with good character appeal to me), his no-nonsense nature, his ability to take tough decisions and his dedication to a sport that sees highs and lows worse than stock markets.
What I was not aware of was his immense struggle coming as he did from a lower middle-class family in erstwhile Bihar in the days when all our sporting heroes came from larger towns or from more affluent families. Anyone who plays cricket in India knows how truly difficult the competition is to make it in the playing eleven. And frankly, I would be very nervous if my son were to show interest in becoming a cricketer. As a normal Indian parent, I want my kids to have a well-rounded personality but pay attention to their studies.
For his family to take that tough decision was truly commendable. The movie also took us through his enormous trials when he often lost confidence in himself when failure accosted him at every turn and he almost turned into a bitter, dejected human being. His pillar of strength was his sister and a bunch of friends who would do anything to see him succeed. His own constant battle with hours of monotonous work and then equal hours of practice and then a very personal loss of a girlfriend. It just goes to show that all we see and envy is the glamour and success. The blood, sweat and toil that goes into it is stuff that lesser mortals are not capable of giving. A tale that will truly touch your heart.
The story had many heartwarming moments. As a parent, I could empathise with his middle-class parents who had very small dreams for their son. That he’d get a government job and be stable in his life. His own father was a blue-collar worker and hence wanted his children to study and become something in life. The dreams we can all relate with. Yet, when the time came, his parents rallied around him and supported his decision of quitting his government job to concentrate on his cricket career. A decision that put their son’s entire future at stake.
The songs feel slightly out of place and the romantic tales a bit of a stretch. The movie also largely skirted around any cricketing controversies while mostly keeping it personal.
As an aside, I can’t imagine how these stars choose people to date or settle with, what with girls throwing themselves at them at all times. We have all watched Dhoni, the person and know that he never allowed success to go to his head. Just recently he quit as the captain of the Indian one-day team after already having given up captaincy of the test team earlier. He is a man who Indian cricket fans will always remember.
Yes, watch it with your kids. It is immensely entertaining. The star cast is quite good. Sushant, who played Dhoni on screen, put his heart and soul into it. The cricketing scenes seem quite real.
The lessons you can’t learn at home, you learn on a playground.
This movie has some of those for all of us.
Picture courtesy: Vecton on Shutterstock.
Dhoni was one good movie. I do use it to tell me son of the struggles Dhoni made to achieve success. His attitude itself is the best lesson to be learnt. Never too dejected with loss and never too happy when he wins. Amazing temperament for our Captain Cool. On similar lines, I also like Dangal a lot. Watch it, if you haven’t.
You are right, Lata. I have always admired Dhoni’s attitude and his grit. It was nice to see the story behind the man. I have seen Dangal. That was an outstanding movie as well.
Rachna agree it was one good movie of last year… An inspiration in every way. From a humble beginning he has worked his way up and has left a significant Mark in the world of cricket. The movie brought it all out with the right emotions.
True, Ramya. I am glad that such movies are made more and more.
Watched it with the kids last month and was equally inspired. Like you, this is what I shared with the daughters.
“…all we see and envy is the glamour and success. The blood, sweat and toil that goes into it is stuff that lesser mortals are not capable of giving.”
Some of these real life characters they bring alive on screen are a big inspiration for the future generations. Not sure if you watched Dangal. Do watch it if you haven’t. Though people are complaining about the character of the father Aamir has played, I don’t see anything wrong because he was playing a real life story as it is. Not defending the father at all. But the movie is a must watch for the kind of effort they have put into it.
Oh yes, I did. Loved Dangal. Didn’t want to include that in this post as that would need a separate post of its. own. 🙂
Though I watch almost all the sports movies, skipped this one. Somehow was not so eager. Will watch it with kids. True, the stories inspire us but many times I wonder how much of it portrayed is real. The only downside is the filmmakers dilute the reality for commercialisation. Well, it’s all part of the game 🙂 At least glad someone is making an attempt.
I agree with you, filmmakers do add in their own masala but overall this movie retained its storyline. It was an inspiring watch.
I am not an avid movie goer and choose only those movies which I can let my son watch so mostly it is animation for us. The movies which we saw in 2016 were Angry Birds, Moanna and Dangal. Going by your post, I think both of us should watch MS Dhoni as well, as and when it is available on Netflix. May be the zeal to wrestle which started with Dangal will take further a newer shape with MS Dhoni.
Oh yes, most of my movie outings are to kiddie movies or superhero movies due to the sons. I think it is coming on TV so maybe you can catch it then. Your son will surely love it.
I’ve heard lots of people raving about this movie and hear Sushant has done a great job in the role. I can image how excited he must have been to be chosen for the part. I enjoy watching bio pics and believe that more of these should be made! 🙂 Yet to see this one (and waiting for the tv to air it 😛 )
It is airing on Star Plus this Republic Day so perhaps you can catch it then. Oh yes, Sushant lived the role. I loved him in this movie.
This is so well-timed. We haven’t watched it yet and we’re planning to do so on the 26th. I think it’s airing on some TV channel. Of late I’ve watched some really good biopics and am looking forward to this one too.
Yes, I think it is coming on Star Plus. I saw some promos. I think you and the kids will like it though it is a bit longish.
Dhoni deserves all the love and respect he gets. His journey is so inspirational and everyone can learn something from it. I loved the scene where he is sitting on a bench on the platform and wondering what he’s doing with his life. He then boards the next train and goes ahead to follow his passion leaving everything behind while getting the past washed away in the rain. Beauty that scene was.
The romantic angles were tiring and the second half dragged a bit. While the rest of the movie was good, I was surprised they left out the part where they chose him to become the captain inspite of having so many senior members on the team. I honestly wanted to know why that happened and what was his reaction to the news. This was an important element and I was surprised that the makers chose to show his love life instead of this.
You are right, Soumya. I loved the scene you have mentioned here. I could feel how torn he was. Haven’t we all been on that bench on the platform at least sometime in our lives? I know I was hoping to see some of the cricketing controversies but they didn’t tread much there except for that Sehwag removal. He was one of the finest captains and youngest too. Surely that ruffled many egos. I wish they could have shown some of that. Or did they shy away as they didn’t want to upset the cricketing demigods? That bit about his first girlfriend and her unfortunate death was a bit shocking but the rest of the romance was a huge drag.
I have admired him for his tough calls as a cricketer. Everybody we see around who is successful has had some or the quality (or a combination of them) that made them popular. There is luck too, but you have to chase it as well!
Haven’t watched the movie yet, though i am a fan of cricket. Good reminder for me to look it up over the weekend.
Here it is airing on Star Plus on Republic Day I think. Yes, there is a huge luck factor too but then like you rightly pointed out, you have to chase that as well. You will enjoy this movie. I liked the North Indian lingo as well.
Seems like a good movie. Will probably try to watch it with my son, though he’s completely anti-romance at the moment 😀
Brilliant sum up, Rachna! Loved the movie, it’s always good when we can see a part of personal lives of the what exactly makes these people we admire so that we can be inspired with the right things and not just their external starry figure that often floats in the media. That’s the same reason I enjoyed watching the movie Dangal as well!
Thanks so much, Arti. I loved Dangal as well.