Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; March 21, 2016)


How much of Dhoni’s personal life is shown in the film?
There has to be a great, entertaining, compelling story of the person. So when you tell a story like that, you talk about everything — personal and professional lives and you stay true to that.

What sets Dhoni apart from other biopics?
The sheer length of his graph is enormous. And the fact that he is the most famous, loved, successful skipper and not many know his back-story, is extremely compelling.

What according to you, sets Dhoni apart from other biopics?
The sheer length of his graph is enormous. And the fact that he is the most famous, loved and successful skipper. Not many know that his back story is extremely compelling.

You trained for about eight months for the film...
(Cuts in) No, 11 months!

Why so long?
To work on the script, convince yourself that you are the character, to cultivate cricketing skills to a professional level, I think this much time was required.

How long did you take to just learn the sport?
First, I learnt just cricket, how to play the sport like a professional. That was what I started off with. Then I learnt Dhoni’s style of cricket. He plays it slightly differently. So I had to grab that and then obviously, there were other nuances, of course!

Have you mastered his helicopter shot already?
Obviously, if you are making a film on Dhoni, you can’t not learn the helicopter shot. So I trained in that. People have watched me and told me that it’s great. I hope that translates on screen as well.

Did Dhoni teach you some shots?
No, he didn’t, but he saw the videos. (Smiles)

Dhoni is still playing. Isn’t it too early to make a biopic on him?
Why would it be early? When we are telling a story about someone’s life, there’s something to tell and that’s why we are making the film. It’s not just because he’s famous.

Will the Indian cricket team be a part of the film?
It’s going to be the biggest surprise for everyone. For this, you can take my word and hold me if it doesn’t happen, you will be like shockingly surprised. But if I tell you now, it won’t remain a surprise anymore.

Do you think filmmakers didn’t opt for a cricketer’s biopic because it would sound too clichéd?
I don’t know about others. But you have to have some story to tell. It’s not about cricketers, it’s about one person who plays cricket. And this time, coincidentally, there are two biopics on two persons from two different decades with different stories coming out in the same year. The only similarity between the two is the sport. Nothing else is actually the same.

But comparisons with Azhar are bound to happen…
I am not concerned at all with that.

The film was supposed to release last year. Do you think the delay will affect the film in any way?
At this point of time, I don’t want to get into that because he is still playing and there are so many formalities that need to be done. It’s not like that you have worked hard for six months