This is a story of people who want to see somekind of Superdhoni on their screensinstead of the inscrutable iceberg whoalso happened to be one of the mostsignificant cricketers of his generation.Right from the start, this is a fairy taledisguised as an underdog story.This isnot to say that the film isn’t faithful tothe broader details of Dhoni’s life and career. It’s the treatment: the way thingsfall into place the way they rarely do inreal life. When, as a youngfootballenthusiast, he’s first handed wicket-keeping gloves, he drops the first few catches, then latches on to everythingafter that. Batting in the nets for thefirst time, he hits the first ball back overthe bowler’s head. Throughout the film, there are only a few instances of Dhonibeing dismissed; getting out, apparently, is for mortals.Working with co-writer Dilip Jha, writer-director Neeraj Pandey uses theintermission to divide the Dhoni saga( from childhood till the 2011 World Cup) into two halves that could have beentitled “persistence” and “payoff”. We’reshown how Dhoni’s hitting makes him alegend in his school, then in hishometown of Ranchi; how he misses hischance to play for the U-19 team; howhe takes a job as a ticket collector in thehope of representing Railways in theRanji Trophy. Played by , the Dhoni we see on screen isalways quietly confident, with thebeatific smile of someone who knowsthings will work out. It’s as if the makersare afraid the audience might think lessof the character if he betrayed a fewnerves.As Dhoni’s career seems to grind to ahalt—like the trains he’s supposed tokeep tabs on—the film stalls as well. Butintermissions ( and their effect onscreenplays) are strange things. Whenthe film resumes, Dhoni is quicklyelevated to the India A team, then to thenational side. Suddenly, we’re not onlywatching cricket, but watching Indianswatch cricket, which is just asentertaining. We see his sceptical father, his supportive mother and sister, friendswho’ve supported him since hisschooldays, his first coach, yell at the TV, advise him on how to play, blameeveryone but him for his dismissal. Foronce, instead of being told how specialDhoni is, we see his greatness reflectedin their reactions.Apart from a brilliantly cast HerryTangiri as a young Yuvraj Singh, thefilm avoids having actors play theIndian team of the time. Instead, as Dhoni into actualmatch footage. It’s the film’s one biggamble. On the one hand, the makers nolonger have to run the risk of lookingsilly while recreating moments thatcricket fans know by heart. Yet, thisapproach also results in a lack ofimmediacy. We never feel the heat ofthe moment, never hear the crowd’schants as Dhoni would have heard them.We’re removed from the action—twiceremoved, in fact.The film runs through the majorsignposts in Dhoni’s career, but wenever get a sense of how victory an defeat affected the man or altered hisgame or personality. The 2007 WorldCup loss, after which his effigy wasburnt outside his home in Ranchi, iswidely regarded as a turning point inhis life. Here, it just comes and goes—alittle detail in the inexorable rise ofDhoni. Same with the 2007 WorldTwenty20 win, the origin of the Dhoni-as-leader legend. Other Bollywood sportsfilms such as Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, MaryKom , even Sultan , have been able to linkevents in their protagonists’ lives totheir athletic performance. Yet, eventhat doesn’t happen here. We see thetragic end of one of his relationships.Did this make him a more guardedperson? The film isn’t saying.Anyone expecting M.S. Dhoni to be evenmildly controversial probably doesn’tknow that one of the producers is ArunPandey, the cricketer’s friend andbusiness partner. The closest the filmcomes to ruffling feathers is when Dhoni, speaking as captain to theselection committee, asks for threesenior players be dropped from the ODIteam. However, the players aren’tidentified, which renders theconversation slightly ridiculous . From the start, it wasalways likely that the film would end upa hagiography. Yet, even a glorifiedaccount of Dhoni’s career might havefound ways to say insightful, non-contentious things about cricket in thiscountry. There are a couple of scatteredmoments that’ll appeal to fans—when hehits a match-winning six in a schoolgame, Dhoni does the same bat twirl thatfollowed his sealing of the 2011 WorldCup—but, considering this is a three-hour film, there should have been more. I hope you like and seen movie.