Actor Sushant Singh Rajput said the upcoming biopic on Mahendra Singh Dhoni was not just a depiction of the cricketer’s life story but also an inspiring tale of hardwork and success.
The 30-year-old actor, who essays the role of the cricket star in MS Dhoni: The Untold Story , said Dhoni’s life story is about believing in your dream.
“We are punctuating the belief Dhoni had in himself. There was not even an iota of doubt that if this thing doesn’t happen, then there is a plan B. One should not dream or work to achieve something to get a high status in society.
“You work for your dream because that’s the only thing that drives you. That’s the only thing that keeps you awake for that extra five minutes and wakes you up five minutes early in the morning,” Sushant said during a session at the India Today Mind Rocks Youth Summit 2016.
The actor said through the film they were not glorifying the Indian cricketer and have shown all the important instances of his life exactly the way they happened.
“We are not trying to glorify Dhoni. We are not over-glamourising anything. Right from his birth to the 2011 World cup six that he hit, we are showing everything.”
Sushant may be seen promoting the film with Dhoni now but the actor said he never got trained by the cricketer while prepping for the movie.
“Dhoni never taught me his cricketing style or his mannerism. There were only three instances when I met him. The first time I met him I was just talking to him about how he feels about his own story. Then I met him to ask 250 hypothetical questions about how he would react to some situations.
“It was just to understand him better and the third time I spoke about the instances mentioned in the script.”
The actor trained with former Indian cricketer Kiran More, who he said was a tough task master.
“I trained with Kiran More sir for 13 months and he is a tough task master, he treats you like a professional cricketer and not an actor.”
Sushant said the only similarity between him and Dhoni is that both of them don’t think too much about the future and keep working hard for their dreams.
“I stay in the present, I don’t really plan things. For me the journey is very important and not the achievement.”
The biopic is directed by Neeraj Pandey. Sushant said the filmmaker locked him for the part in just 20 minutes. However, post that he lived his life just being Dhoni.
“As an actor the most important thing I did to become Mahendra Singh Dhoni was to convince myself that I am the character. For last 12 years I have been a big fan of Dhoni and that was tricky, so the bottom line was complete immersion.
“I used to watch his videos for hours and hours and subconsciously adapt few of his nuances.”
MS Dhoni: The Untold Story will hit the theatres on September 30. The film also stars Anupam Kher, Kiara Advani and Disha Patani.
