MSD: - THE UNTOLD STORY
Cricket! MSD! Neeraj Pandey! SSR! Kaun Tujhe & Phir Kabhi songs! This has all the ingredients to be an absolute masterpiece, isn’t it? Well, absolutely, if made with proper intentions, efforts and real life takes of one of the most successful cricketers of India!
When was the last time you saw a biopic being made on someone who is still very much active & not nearing the end of life? Yeah, that shows how much successful a small town boy from Ranchi has become in a span of just few years.
Having been a Sports fanatic all my life and preaching Cricket as a religion, I guess this is a movie which can be best judged by people like us & not the critics in my view. Critics can tell their take on the movie, we’ll tell about the experiences, memories and the journey. I’ll begin by telling about what’s there in the movie! The 1st half shows the early life and struggles of MSD which has been presented in such a way that it feels real and believable. It shows how he loved Football(Goalkeeping) and refused to play Cricket stating “Why to play with a small ball when I’m already playing with a big one”. But then, one night, when he saw his Dad pouring water on the ground with lights ON, he felt that he could play Cricket and that was how it all began.
Confidence was never an issue with Mahi, the self-belief was there in him since like forever! “Sir, hum darte nahi hai gend lagne se”, “Koshish hi karenge to wo to hum bhi kar sakte hai”, “Main strike lunga, tum bas mujhe runout mat karva dena” were some of the dialogues that showcased that quality of Mahi.
The scene of how Mahi learnt the helicopter shot from his friend during a Tennis Ball match after promising Samosas has been emphasized on properly as well. Because of his good show at club level & hard hitting, MSD was selected in Bihar U19 team . In 1999-2000, Bihar u-19 made it to the final of Cooch Behar Trophy where they faced Punjab. This match was important as u-19 World Cup selections were nearing. Mahi scored 84 but Yuvi Paaji scored a mammoth 358 himself. MSD wasn’t selected for the u-19 WC squad which ultimately won the WC under Mohammad Kaif. Even GG missed out & guess what, Ajay Ratra was chosen as the wk there. He then went on to do the job of TTE at Kharagpur Railway Station for 3 years under the eyes of AK Ganguly who helped him continue playing Cricket as well. How he struggled coping up with job & Cricket both has been wonderfully shown here!
In our 20s, we ponder upon thinking about life way too often when stuck up somewhere! It happens to most of them barring some talented and lucky ones who are settled smoothly in life in their 20s. So well, it was just before interval where the train arrived amidst rain where our Mahi realized he’s at a wrong place! Now I know why Neeraj Pandey said the scene before interval is the best of the movie for him. I’ll also mention the scene where Mahi and his friends were watching the 2003 WC final & one of them said “Ye Yuvi, Kaif, Mongia bhi Mahi ke saath they, aaj WC final khel rahe hai aur hamara Mahi yahan hai” Oh dear! That would hurt, that can break you to be honest! That was a hard moment for me.
The 2nd half shows the 2 loves in Mahi’s life:- Priyanka Jha who had a tragedy & Sakshi Rawat. It’s been shown in an honest way & Mahi’s shyness & even boldness can be seen in it. The focus shifts to his International career, failures in 1st 4 ODIs, than the epic 148 at Vizag vs Pak. He slowly cements his place, becomes a finisher & a dependent player. He’s now the T20 captain, wins the WC, gets few ads, gets married to Sakshi & we move towards 2011 WC final which is where it all began & will obviously end. We all know the end & how Wankhede & the whole of India erupted with joy on the night of April 2, 2011.
Direction by Neeraj Pandey is nice, story and screenplay by Neeraj and Dilip Jha is a restricted one, but heartening and gripping with few dull moments. Dialogues, cinematography and VFX are wonderful; editing is topsy-turvy, could have easily removed some parts and included a lot more.
Music by Amaal Malik is good, Kaun Tujhe & Phir Kabhi are brilliant, Jab Tak & Besabriyan are good. Background music is too loud.
Coming to the performances, Sushant Singh Rajput should turn into a Superstar now if he isn’t already with a brilliant performance. He’s portrayed Mahi’s life brilliantly. Anupam Kher as Mahi’s Dad Paan Singh is solid, Kiara Advani as Sakshi is ok, Disha Patani debuting as Priyanka is wonderful. She’s a breath of fresh air, had the right expressions & acted splendidly in the limited role she had. Rajesh Sharma & Kumud Mishra are 2 of my fav actors and they lended wonderful support to Sushant here. Also, Mahi’s friends, especially Chittu, were good & so was the young Yuvi Paaji.
All in all, what’s shown is good but leaves a lot untold which would lead to me reducing my ratings for the movie. I’ll rate it 3/5. I don’t feel proper justice has been done to the man called MSD.
Moving onto what more I wanted in this movie:-
• I wouldn’t have minded a movie of 6 hours divided in 2 parts which could have shown a lot more that’s left untouched here.
• As has been rightly said in many reviews, this seems more of a hagiography than a biopic. Some way or the other, it’s been shown that every decision he took has led to glory for the team be it axing 3 big players(I now know the names) or blaming a selector for leak(I know him as well).
• Why does the movie end at 2011 WC, why is it shown from the viewpoint of just his good achievements & struggles & nothing else! He didn’t retire then, he’s still playing, so why limit it to just 2011!
• How did he become a captain out of nowhere ahead of the likes of Viru, Yuvi, Bhajji etc. in T20s? What was his reaction to it? How did the other seniors react to it? Were any difficulties faced? Also, nothing is shown about how he got ODI captaincy and how he transformed himself from a destructive batsman to a constructive finisher.
• What about his Test Cricket career? Nothing has been shown apart from a news clip when we became No. 1 in the World. Does that doesn’t need to be shown?
• How did he gel with others, what about the dressing room talks, how he developed those out of the box strategies, what was his reaction when he was our captain in all 3 formats, how did he tell a big player that he won’t be in the 11, who were his closest friends from the Cricket team, how he controlled some mischievous teammates etc. has just not been shown.
• Also, every article and story states that Priyanka Jha tragedy occurred while he was on A tour to Kenya, in 2002-03. If that’s true, that whole angle has been wrongly shown in the movie. I badly hope the one in movie is true but who’ll confirm it? Anyone having contacts with MSD?
• Also, MSD has an elder brother Narendra, he’s completely missing in the movie.
• I would have loved to see a bit of Ziva’s birth story, IPL controversy, his sudden retirement from Tests, how he learnt to be calmness personified, his reactions inside, off-the camera when we won the World Cups etc.
So well, I don’t have any major problems in the movie but it’s restricted to what was meant to be shown and to avoid any sort of controversy whatsoever. If I would be the maker, I would want to show it all to a nation that loves the sport and the millions who love MSD. It’s an untold story with lot being still untold. You can’t force someone to reveal it as all, but wish it could. So, not many issues with the movie, just wanted to know a lot more & hence the low ratings.