With MS Dhoni: The UnTold Story all set to release this September 30, Captain Cool himself (Mahendra Singh Dhoni…who else!) was in the city along with the actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who made his Bollywood debut as a cricket fanatic in Kai Po Che and Arun Pandey, producer for promotions.
Amid frenzied cheers of fans, Dhoni said Chennai was his second home, waving his hand at the crowd. “The best things about Chennai are leather jackets, biryani and the filter kaapi. They always say Hyderabad biryani or Kolkata biryani tastes better. But I like what’s being made here. It’s really awesome and spicy. Also I like Chennaiites. They are warm by nature. After all, the city is what it is because of people,” he gushed.
The cricketer, dressed in black and white, also said that he would be visiting namma Superstar after this event. He stood up on the stage and imitated Rajinikanth’s famous dialogue: ‘En Vazhi Thani Vazhi’. “I have always been a big fan of Rajini sir and wanted to meet him,” he smiled.
Excitement reached a fevered pitch when actor Suriya’s children, Dev and Diya, went on stage for a brief interactive session. Diya asked Dhoni if he was naughty as a kid, to which he replied, “I have been a mischievous kid, but I made sure that I listened to my parents and teachers.”
He was all praise for Suriya too, and said, “I am a huge fan of your dad. I even watched Singam in Hindi; but after someone told me that the Tamil version was better, I saw it with subtitles.”
Speaking about the movie, Dhoni said the biopic traces the journey and inherent struggles of a sportsperson rather than glorifying his life. “It was difficult for me to go back to the past and narrate my story to Neeraj Pandey (the director), because I like to live in the present. Of course, the movie made me relive childhood memories and how I played during my early days. It was nice to be there for a moment.”
Dhoni described film hero Sushant as a fantastic actor. “He practiced for nine months and he looks very convincing playing cricket onscreen,” he added.
The film also stars Anupam Kher as Dhoni’s father, besides Kiara Advani and Disha Patani. The makers said the movie will also have a dubbed version in Tamil.