To Prepare For MS Dhoni Biopic, Late Sushant Singh Rajput Had Watched This Iconic Moment 100 Times

Seldom are biopics around sports made on an entity still pursuing career at the highest level. When Neeraj Pandey made ‘M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’ (2016), the namesake cricketer was still enjoying his final years of international cricket. It was a rare occasion, but as a two-time World Cup-winning captain, MS Dhoni deserved every bit of that respect.

The late Sushant Singh Rajput, who was well-versed with Dhoni’s dialect, had essayed the role perfectly. He fetched widespread acclaim for his role and won several Best Actor awards alongside a host of other nominations that year.

After the release of the film, Rajput and other successful actors of 2016 namely Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and Diljit Dosanjh sat with senior journalist Rajeev Masand for a roundtable conference. Conducted by CNN-News18, Rajput admitted to watching an iconic and precious moment from ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 100 times to nail Dhoni’s expressions.

“Sir, I saw it for like 100 times”, Rajput answered Bachchan’s query around literally copying Dhoni’s expression from the World Cup-winning six.

MS Dhoni Was Vexed With Sushant Singh Rajput

Actors, far too often, have a tedious process of learning about the characters of the past, especially if it’s a biopic. As a general rule, personalities from the past are extensively researched and read by them to get into their psyche before taking on such a role.

However, as far as living people are concerned, one has a chance to ask countless questions. Not wanting to miss a golden opportunity, this was exactly what Rajput did with Dhoni despite the latter not being too happy about it. Assuming Dhoni understood the process of acting authentically, it still was exceedingly annoying for him to constantly talk about himself.

“It was a bit awkward initially to speak about yourself. After 15 minutes, you get bored talking about yourself and I was like I need a break, I am going,” Dhoni addressed the reporters as quoted by Hindustan Times back in the day.

Not paying much heed to Dhoni’s behaviour, a persistent Rajput still peppered him with questions. In the same press conference, Rajput had revealed getting to watch Dhoni losing his cool as a consequence.

Saw film”Dhoni”. Sushant was totally Dhoni! All characters did good.And the two new girls are sure stars in the making.Director splendid job

— Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) October 2, 2016

Detailed questioning, however, impacted Rajput’s performance in the affirmative as everyone loved him as Dhoni. With M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story emerging as an outright critical and commercial success, Rajput had earned laurels for his performance from established actors such as Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao and Vicky Kaushal.

About the author

Tanmay Roy

Tanmay Roy is a Tennis Journalist at The SportsRush, whose lifelong passion and zeal for the sport landed him this position. A writer with over 1000 articles under him, Tanmay fell in love with tennis in 2005 when Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon final after a stunning three sets. Tanmay followed the likes of the Big Three - Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal from the mid-noughties to now. His interest was stronger than ever after the wonderful 2009 Wimbledon Final which saw Roger Federer win after a see-saw 5-set match. His favorite female tennis player is Serena Williams and Monica Seles. Tanmay's favorite match-up to date is Roger Federer vs Andy Roddick in the 2000s. If possible, the John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut first round match at the 2010 Wimbledon is the only match Tanmay would love to watch Live by going back in time. Of late, he is a huge fan of Jannik Sinner and believes the youngster has the potential to break every record.

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