Dhoni is the latest addition to the fit of ridiculous Tamil movies that have been made about the game of cricket. The name of the film is ‘Dhoni – not out’, if you haven’t judged it already, read on.

0 or 1

This begins as the story of a young boy who wants to be ‘Dhoni’. He plays cricket (apparently, well) and hates to study. Until now, it is a binary game of studies vs. cricket.

Subbu (a tad overplayed by Prakash Raj) wants his son to forget cricket and concentrate on studies because he has to face board exams the next year. The son however cannot learn multiplication tables by heart but remembers Dhoni’s statistics (height, weight included) without a fuss. The coach (in a very unfitting role for Nasser) believes that the boy should not be forced to do what he does not like i.e. study but be allowed to do what he likes i.e. play cricket. Everybody is colour blind, it is either black or white!

Lesson here being: One can no study and play cricket!

Melodrama

The highpoint of melodrama in the film is the scene on Neeya Naana. The flood of tears, the direct accusation on the schools/ teachers and the talk of school being jail – mind-numbing exaggeration! The entire film is showered with melodrama, loud crying, name calling, blaming without any sensitivity towards what makes the situation that it is.

For example, that scene in which Subbu meets the Chief Minister is a shame to Prakash Raj’s intelligence. A long monologue of sacrificial rubbish and the photo opportunity thereafter is preachy to say the least and idiotic to say the truth! This should probably be understandable in a film where father beating up a son and pushing to coma is the story!

Telugu crowd

Majority of the supporting actors in the film happen to be popular actors from the Telugu film industry. They don’t fit in. They stand out like a sore thumb in spite of the popular voices like Delhi Ganesh dubbing for them.

One too many causes

Half an hour into the film, Prakash Raj has lost track of what he began the film with. There is a middle class hero talking of inflation (bordering socialism) selling pickles, there is a young woman who is (allegedly) sleeping with a rich man to feed her children, there is a boy who wants to play cricket, there is his sister who attains puberty, there is a ‘kandhu vaddi kaaran’ who turns saviour and there are very many others who all hang around in the film like single men in a bar – trying to make conversation but adding no real value.

The real moral of the story is for you to choose the right answer:

1. A dysfunctional (capitalist) education system
2. A dysfunctional (hypocritical) political system
3. A misplaced family system
4. All of the above

If the answer was intended to be (4), then it is horribly executed.

It all ends well

This is one thing we all knew. The boy recovers from coma, plays cricket, wins a match and makes his father proud. Duh!

This review is heavily skewed for various reasons. Disclaimer post here.