I feel connected to his life now, says Sushant Singh Rajput

As one would expect from anything that has the name ‘Dhoni’ attached to it, the trailer of MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, which was released on Thursday in a star-studded event, is full of grit and racy excitement. The launch event for the trailer revealed more than a few nuggets about what makes this venture exciting. Attended by the lead Sushant Singh Rajput, director Neeraj Pandey and MS Dhoni himself, the launch event was quite a riot.

While fitting into the shoes of the sporting legend is a tough ask, Sushant says that the excitement outweighed the pressure. “It was more excitement than pressure. He is a very humble person and I feel there are very few films in your career where you end up becoming a good human being,” revealed Sushant on the experience of working on the film.

Speaking on his struggle, Sushant said, “Its how one perceives it. I felt connected with his life and circumstances. I related to his struggle in life before he got the stardom from cricket.” Sushant further explains that one of the toughest asks in the film was learning to actually play cricket. “To convince the audience, I had to play actual cricket. Initially, my trainer Kiran More trained me aggressively. Honestly, I thought it would be easy but after just 30-40 seconds I started getting backaches and bruises and realised how tough it was. My respect for cricketers has grown tremendously after this film,” he revealed.

As for working with Neeraj Pandey, he said, “Very few times you feel that the shot you gave is satisfying. But I was always sure that Neeraj will guide me in the most minute of details while performing.”

Talking about Dhoni, the man, Sushant said, “I feel that unlike others, he lives in the present. He is too calm while handling tough situations.”

The Indian captain, on his part, revealed how he wanted the film to shape up and said, “I did not want them (makers) to make me a hero or glamourise me, but rather show the journey and struggle. I have played football and had been with the Railways before I started playing cricket. I wanted them to show what pushed me and how I did it is what I wanted to be the film’s focus point,” Dhoni said.

As for his retirement, Dhoni brushed off the thought and said, “It’s a difficult question to answer. I will have to see the positive and negative side and think in which role people will like to see me. I will look into it later, as right now I am playing cricket and I would like to focus on that.”

Sushant, who has been linked in rumours of a relationship with co-star Kriti Sanon, had just this to say about the rumour, “I agree with what Kriti has already said to the media.” When prodded on his marriage, Sushant simply said, “I need to find a girl first.”