Kiran More recounts the nine months he spent with Sushant Singh Rajput to prepare him for M S Dhoni’s role
As told to Deba Prasad Dhar (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 15, 2020)

A disarming smile when he would get smacked in the face by the hard, leather ball. An actor who had a parallel world of books, which seemed to give him immense peace of mind. And if more release was needed, he would turn to his cars. He had quite a few of them — the Maserati Quattroporte was his favourite. That’s the Sushant I knew, the one whose cricketing skills I had to sharpen for the movie, ‘M S Dhoni - The Untold Story’.

Before I started preparing him for the role of Dhoni — we trained together for nine months — I had warned him that discipline would be non-negotiable. Discipline is an overworked word in sport, but without Sushant’s unwavering focus, he couldn’t have done justice to Dhoni’s character.

I was clear that he would have to report on time for practice and carry his own kit. I had him agree to another condition — he would have no spot boys and security guards at nets.

We would practise at the Chandrakant Pandit Coaching Clinic in Mumbai, daily from 7 to 9 am.

Facing the leather ball was never going to be easy for someone who had been brought up on tennis-ball cricket. Training him in wicketkeeping was more challenging. Even someone as prodigiously talented as Sachin Tendulkar might not be comfortable if abruptly asked to do the job behind the stumps.

So we eased him into wicketkeeping drills. First, we made him do basic catching drills with the tennis ball before making him wear the keeper’s pads and polish the art of neat collections.

He would be hit frequently on the fingers, chest, face and legs, but not once did he whine.

If you watched the movie, he was slimmer as young Dhoni and had to look heavier later. Sushant managed to achieve both. He had to sweat buckets to raise his fitness levels. Everybody knows Dhoni has naturally-built strong thighs. To get Sushant’s legs to that level, we engaged Rajesh Sawant, the then U-19 fitness trainer who passed away three years ago.

I was witness to Sushant’s complete transformation as a cricketer. Like we did with his wicketkeeping, we tried making him comfortable with the bat. We started giving him throwdowns before unleashing fast bowlers at him.

The batting drills became progressively tougher. We made him bat on uncovered wickets with unpredictable bounce. Once a delivery cut through the grill of his visor leaving him with a bloodied nose.

Each day, he would joyously give me a count of his bruises, but he never stopped training.

It took him roughly three months of rigorous practice — sometimes against the bowling machine — to execute the helicopter shot, considered the toughest in the sport. It was surprising, for I hadn’t seen many cricketers look comfortable playing it. I remember a shoot in Jamshedpur where he was demonstrating the helicopter shot – it was as though he had been practising it all his life.

Once we were training at Mumbai Cricket Association’s Bandra-Kurla Complex indoor facility. Sachin Tendulkar had accompanied his son Arjun for a net session. Sushant was batting at the adjacent net. Sachin was curious to know who this man was. Sachin was stunned when he learned he was Sushant. “He’s batting like an accomplished batsman,” he beamed. Subroto Banerjee, the former India pacer who was also around, told me: “Man, you’ve turned him into a cricketer.” I can’t express in words how nice I felt that day.

As his stint with me was coming to an end, I could see another makeover in him. The way Sushant would communicate with people, carry his kit, wear his pads and gloves…he had gotten into the skin of Dhoni’s character. The actor had become a cricketer.

I may have worked on fine details like changing his stance and his grip, but in nine months Sushant had become Dhoni in flesh. Spending considerable amount of time with Dhoni had its wondrous effects too.

I can’t believe such a warm person — that’s the Sushant that will stay with me — has left us so abruptly. To say I’m shocked is not the word.

Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 15, 2020)

Sushant Singh Rajput was known as someone perennially brimming with ideas and young energy.

So, many didn't bat an eyelid while reading his last post on Instagram. Shared with a picture of his late mother on June 3, the post seemed like an inconspicuous observation in line with the general mood across social media feeds... until Sunday afternoon, when news of the actor’s suicide broke.

A student of metaphysics and spirituality, Sushant was a stickler for perfection when it came to his craft. He passed up six films and devoted six months to Shekhar Kapur's futuristic sci-fi romantic drama, Paani, which revolved around water wars. Prep for the 34-year-old actor meant reading and re-reading the script, understanding the character, his back story, where he was coming from and where he was headed. Talking to Mirror (September 14, 2015), he had pointed out that he could have six-pack abs but not for show, “because this guy lives in the Lower City, where everybody fights to get something to eat and then, there's no water”. It was only when he realised that M S Dhoni - The Untold Story would go on the floors before Paani, that he shifted focus to the biopic, spending 18 months ‘becoming’ the titular character with former Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More. “Complete immersion is important, more so when you're playing a real-life living character. Viewers must feel you are him and not pretending to be him," he had reasoned, admitting that there were times when he felt like he was talking like Dhoni.

During that interview, he was asked what if he could fast forward to 2040, when Paani unfolds, and he looked horrified, “I wouldn't even jump a year ahead, forget 25 years. I’m a control freak, which is why I can't sleep at night for longer than four-five hours. My friends insisted that I consult a doctor, who told me that I was excited and restless for no particular reason, which is why I couldn't sleep. Also, I was afraid that if I did, I would lose control.”

Sushant was a National Olympiad winner in physics, and having grown up in a large family, had learnt the value of money early on, when he couldn’t pursue his dream of going to Stanford University. Instead, he took the All India Engineering Entrance Exam (popularly known as AIEEE) and came seventh, securing a seat in the prestigious Delhi College of Engineering. However, he dropped out in the final year. “If I had waited another six months, I could have come to Mumbai with a degree. I take time to make decisions, but once it is made, there are no regrets or uncertainty,” he had pointed out.

Starting out with TV soaps like Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil and Pavitra Rishta, he made a smooth transition to films with Abhishek Kapoor’s Kai Po Che!, for which he bagged a Filmfare Award for Best Debut. With just 10 releases, his filmography is short but varied, with films like Shuddh Desi Romance, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, PK, Kedarnath and his last release, Chhichhore, in which Sushant played a doting dad trying to revive his son from a coma caused by a suicide attempt.

Around the release of the Abhishek Chaubey-directed dacoit drama, Sonchiriya, the actor had told Mirror that he has 12 films in the pipeline. “It’s for me to decide what to do next…There is no film that I want to do that I can’t do,” he had stated confidently. His last film, Dil Bechara, an official adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars, was gearing up for a direct-to-digital release.

Two years ago, the actor had flown down to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to train as an astronaut to play one in a film, which he later opted out of, but not before buying a piece of land on the moon and promising to come up with his own space film. Then, as a part of his 50-dreams-to-realise list, he wanted to send kids for workshops at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA. He would regularly study constellations in the sky from the terrace of his Pavana home, also going fishing, boating and swimming in the lake close by. But he had clarilifed that both the Bandra apartment and this holiday home were rented. “The only property I own is on the Moon, besides the Maserati, which was a childhood dream,” he had informed.

During the lockdown, the actor was learning how to code for his love of computer games. He even listed down tried-and-tested methods to optimise Return of Investment on time, advising fans to get seven hours of sleep, meditate regularly, journal, exercise, optimise digital time and practice intermittent fasting to upgrade their quality of life. His words, "If you give me more money and fame, I will keep it because I am smart, but if I don’t get it, I won’t worry because I have enough already,” spoken during an interview, resonate as we bid him adieu.

Last year, he had confided that for his 33rd birthday on January 21, he had wanted to fly to Norway and paint the Northern Lights. It was one of the many things on his 150-to-do list that remained incomplete.

As told to Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 16, 2019)

I have been passionate about sports since I was a child. Starting out with extracurricular activities in school, I moved to badminton and started participating in tournaments across the country. I was 12 when I took part in a district-level tournament in the under-13, under-16 and under-19 categories. I won the competition across all age groups and got a cash prize of Rs 3,500 with which I gifted my mother a landline.

I continued playing badminton, but whenever the coach took a break, the boys would teach me to play cricket. That’s how I fell in love with that sport too, picked up the game real fast and was soon playing it professionally.

Then, I went to college at St. Xaviers, Mumbai, where the theatre culture is active. That’s how I caught the eye of Atul Kasbekar, ace photographer who has now turned producer. He suggested I give modelling a shot. I must have been 18 then and followed up on his advice. Modelling was a lot of fun as I got to travel to new places and be photographed, which was great.

My first TV commercial (left) was with actor Nakuul Mehta for a scooter brand. The first print ad was for a clothing line. I continued modelling through my college years as a result of which badminton and cricket took a backseat because my college was strict about attendance and I could only pursue one thing at a time.

In fact, Kiran More’s (former cricketer) daughter, was an assistant director on my debut Hindi film, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya. One day, Kiran sir had dropped by on the set and we took a break to play cricket with him. He was so impressed by my skills, that he asked me to give him three months after the shoot, telling me that given the way I play, I still had a chance to get into the women’s cricket team. That opportunity had come my way a couple of times even before that. But something else always took precedence.

While dabbling in theatre and modelling, I had decided to give acting a shot, following in the footsteps of my grandmother, Usha Kiran, and aunt Tanve Azmi. Mirzya happened after six crazy months of auditioning. Out of several aspirants, only two of us were selected and sent to Delhi for training, followed by another round of audition after which they finally zeroed in on me to play Suchitra opposite Harsh (Varrdhan Kapoor). I even went on to do a Marathi action film, Mauli, co-starring Riteish Deshmukh in a double role. Acting is a lot of fun.

Interestingly, as a child, I have worked at my parents’ restaurants (Adwait and Uttara Mhatre Kher) in Nashik. After their stint at a prominent five star hotel in Mumbai, they shifted to Nashik and started three restaurants. During vacations, my sister, Saunskriti, who was 13 then and I, two years younger, would manage one of the restaurants, Bombay Talkies, themed around Hindi films. I would take care of the kitchen, ordering around full-grown men to fill out orders from customers, while my sister would take orders and manage the guests. It was an enriching experience interacting with strangers and dealing with problems a 11-year-old girl is usually unaware of. I remember once a Jain customer was mistakenly served a chicken sizzler by the waiter. Thankfully, my sister saved the situation. On another occasion, an unruly group of college kids were fooling around in the hotel and broke a big glass door. That was the one time when we had to call our mother to handle things.

We had those restaurants for seven years and worked there for around four years during holidays. I enjoy cooking myself and was obsessed with how roomali rotis were made at the restaurant. I even learnt to bake brownies and pizzas and dish out yummy frankies.

Even today we have a boutique farm stay in Nashik where my plan is to organise workshops, establish a theatre residency and conduct music classes. I will love doing all this whenever time permits.

Former cricketer Kiran More reveals how he cracked the whip (and several wickets) while training the actor to play Mahendra Singh Dhoni in his upcoming biopic
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 21, 2016)

Sushant Singh Rajput on going from actor to cricketer...
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; September 10, 2016)


And so train they did... for a year before shooting began. SSR worked with Kiran More who trained Dhoni, psychotherapist Vaibhav Daga, who’s with India ‘A’ and Devraj, the video analyst. The schedule was divided into three stages for the actor. Playing cricket, looking like a cricketer and getting the attitude correct. “Third was getting to walk, talk, bat, in Dhoni’s style and playing in the stadiums,” says Rajput.

The gruelling schedule
“The first four months was just training in getting the shots correct. From cover drives to defense, square cuts and then wicket-keeping. Everything I needed to know about playing cricket to be able to pull off the role. That was a pre-requisite. Kiran Sir is a taskmaster. We used to start at 5-5.30 am every day with 45 minutes of warm-up drills, which is more than any intensive functional training that you know, and then I would pad up. Everyday, he would decide one shot and I had to play that shot for the whole day. I would practise it, on the bowling machine for at least 300 times for about two to 2.5 hours. Then a break of 30 minutes and another one to 1.5 hours of wicket-keeping. The first few days were so painful because at 29, in your head, you think you can do it easily, but your body isn’t used to such routine. Plus, there’s a posture that you need to sit in for keeping. You need to flex your butt and then put all the pressure. It was a completely different dynamic. I got the hang of it after a long time. The first four months were only about looking and playing like a professional cricketer.”

Getting it right
“We moved to MCA (Mumbai Cricket Association) and then the analyst came on board. Then it was about all the shots that Dhoni plays. Every shot was analysed frame-by-frame, given when the body weight needs to be transferred from one foot to the other while playing a shot. It looked very scientific. For the next six months, it was just about MS Dhoni shots and his wicket-keeping. He’s so agile at his age and his reflexes are really strong. Every day we would be sitting and checking the analysis. Even before we began training for the film, I saw some 1,000 hours of footage of Dhoni just playing on the field. I didn’t even jot down pointers, I just watched him, subconsciously getting immersed. We used to record each day of the training session and the analyst would compare my shots with his to know where I’m going slightly off. There were several instances when the cricketing shot was perfect because I had picked it up by then, but it wasn’t looking like MS. That’s what I spent the next six months doing.”

The Helicopter shot
“That had to be there and I knew that from the day I signed the film. But thankfully, I picked it up really quickly. Because I had seen him do it so many times already. Then I played some 10-12 good helicopter shots in the year, but after I returned home, my ribs started hurting. This was in the sixth or seventh month of my entire training course when I got a hairline crack. All the other shots are about the timing and angle of the bat. But the helicopter shot is when the ball is pitching very close to your left foot. What you need to do is to extract a lot of momentum in a very short span of time, stop that and come back. I injured myself, and was advised bed rest for two weeks. After I started training again, the analyst started saying that I was walking and running like him.”

"By then, I knew the nuances and I knew how to bat and keep wickets. But it still wasn’t easy. I had to bat continuously for 20 odd overs and then immediately wicket keep for 20 more overs. So it was very, very tough. Normal pitches aren’t excellent pitches. The bowlers too weren’t always accurate so the pitch would sometimes bounce because the ball didn’t know I was an actor. Plus, wicket keeping is a tough job. I thought it would be easy because I would practice in my living rooms. But in two overs, I would have cramps, and my lower back would start hurting. That’s a very awkward position to sit in. So those two months, it was more of a simulation exercise. I got hit on my little finger once when I started shooting for the film. During training, no more injuries happened"

Dhoni meets Dhoni
"Dhoni had not come to see me train. When I met him, I showed him some footage from the training on my phone and he in a very cute way told me, ‘It looks and it feels like magic’. He saw other videos after that, of me running, wicket-keeping, batting and he was smiling all through. When I was shooting in Ranchi, after pack-up, I would go to Jharkhand Cricket Academy stadium, practice with the U-19 cricketers there and come back to the hotel. I needed to convince myself that I was Dhoni and I play cricket everyday."

Not Just cricket!
I was simultaneously working in the gym on my lower body — for the calves, hamstring, glutes and quads. Dhoni’s quads and calves are massive. So, I was eating a lot consciously. From 72 kilos, I had to reach 87 kilos because that was the requirement of the role. So it was no oil and sugar. I had to be big like him but at the same time, he is very, very fit. I wasn’t eating to gain weight, but to get muscles. Then, I had to reduce it again to shoot the earlier portions of the film. We did it reverse. So, I again had to lose 15-16 serious kilos then. I had the same diet, the amount of food used to vary. I wasn’t allowed to have any fried stuff. I love everything fried that’s why it was so difficult. But I used to have one cheat meal every week, Sunday afternoon lunches where I could eat anything and everything till I puked. (Laughs) My close friends would mock me saying, ‘Ae Dhoni’ and I would look back and smile. I was so much into him. I was either playing him or watching him for almost one-and-half years. This is my 53rd character including theatre, TV and films. On the last day of shooting, I have always felt a sense of loss. Like somebody dying inside me. I had withdrawal symptoms for Dhoni too. It was more difficult because I wasn’t just playing Dhoni, I was Dhoni even in my dreams!

Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; June 30, 2015)

Sushant Singh Rajput has been undergoing rigorous physical training for Neeraj Pandey’s M S Dhoni - The Untold Story,, in which he will essay the role of India’s most successful cricket captain. Since the mention of Dhoni is incomplete without his famous helicopter shot, Sushant had been working on it — until he apparently suffered a rib fracture.

Says a source working on the project, “He has been working hard to get into the skin of the character and in doing so, he fractured his ribs and was out of action for more than three weeks. He is being trained by former Indian wicket-keeper Kiran More for the film. Sushant also did some net practise alongwith Dhoni, who has also been helping him perfect his body language and mannerisms.”

After several hurdles, the film is slated to go on floors next month in Dhoni’s hometown, Ranchi, where it will be majorly shot. Sources say its release has been pushed to next year.

Both Sushant and Pandey were not available for a comment.