Sushant Singh Rajput was very happy with his Dhoni biopic M S Dhoni The Untold Story which released on September 30 in 2016. Among the meagre number of films that he did before he was snatched away , Dhoni stood next to only Abhishek Chaubey’s Sonechiraiya in Sushant’s esteem.
Sushant wanted to be cricketer before becoming an actor. “But I was not skilled enough to be a national-level cricketer. Now after the film I play better cricket.I didn’t want to look like I was just faking the moves in the field. I had to convince myself that I was this guy who I had watched and admired for fifteen years. It was quite a journey.”
Even before the script was ready Sushant was looking at Dhoni’s videos, over and over again. “The intent was to understand the way he thought moved and behaved. I had to get my posture and thought-process in place before we started shooting. I couldn’t think about these things once the camera was switched on.For twelve months I trained on the field to feel like a professional cricketer. After 4-5 months the analyst came on board and we began working on the specific shots on the field.By the end of it I was playing like Dhoni. I wanted to play like him. But I didn’t want to imitate him.I didn’t want to consciously pick up those nuances in Dhoni’s personality that people immediately identify with him. I wanted my performance to grow organically.”
For Sushant understanding Sushant’s mind was crucial. “I’ve been following his cricket and also his quick wit and swift comebacks.But to me the more important question was, why was he the way he was? What made him so iconic? I’d try to figure it out by meeting Dhoni as frequently as possible.There were three sets of meetings.During my first meeting I asked him to just talk about himself as I listened. In the second meeting I was asking him the questions and he was answering including multiple-choice answers.Then lastly in the meeting I had with him just before the shooting started, I asked him questions from the script.I made sure I WAS Dhoni before I started shooting.”
Sushant felt he was similar to Dhoni in many ways. “We agree on one basic issue of life. We both believe the past is in the past and that we should only focus on the present .When you meet him he is actually listening and talking. These days we don’t listen to what people have to say.I have learnt the value of listening from him.I can confidently say I know Dhoni in and out. We continue to be friends .I may leave a role behind the day I finish the last day’s shooting . But the relationships forged along the way remain with me. I have mastered his physicality as well as gotten to know his thought processes as thoroughly as he allowed me to. I was always his fan. Now I hope I can claim to be a friend.”
Sushant observed, absorbed and assumed as much of Dhoni’s personality traits, including the way he held the bat and the mole under his right eye, without mimicking the cricketer.
“I wouldn’t say Dhoni and I socialized together.He doesn’t party. Neither do I. But I got to spend a lot of time with.And I value every moment that I got to spend with him, just as much as I value the time spent with Shekhar Kapoor while we prepared for Paani,” says Sushant earnestly, adding that he resents the fact that the electronic media wants to focus on his personal relationship rather than his work.
“When I went out to promote Dhoni I told my team I was okay with personal questions as long as they were within limits. In no time I realized my personal life had completely overshadowed my work in the media. There would be headlines about my breakup and one paragraph about Dhoni. That’s when I put a stop to all personal questions.”
Dhoni: The Untold Story was also a game-changer for Sushant in another sense. It was during the promotion of this film that he decided to not speak about his personal life to the media.
Sushant explained to me. “I take great pains to explain how important this film is for me, and why.And what do I see? Headlines about my relationship status.Now I find talk about my personal life superseding my opinion on the film. I find myself speaking for fortyfour minutes on Dhoni and one minute on my personal life. But it’s that one minute which got highlighted.So I decided, no personal questions.”