Mumbai: The cricketing fraternity on Sunday mourned the untimely death of Sushant Singh Rajput, who played the lead role in the 2016 Bollywood movie ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’.
One man who was closely involved with the Dhoni biopic was former Team India wicketkeeper Kiran More, the film’s cricket consultant who had the job of helping Sushant bat and keep wickets like Dhoni.
Speaking about his experience of interacting with the young actor, More told The Indian Express how the legendary Sachin Tendulkar was left stunned when he saw Sushant batting.
“Sushant was working on a biopic of MS Dhoni and I was asked by the director Neeraj Pandey and the producer Arun Pandey to coach him on wicketkeeping and batting. A few weeks into the training, I remember Sushant practising the famous helicopter shot of Dhoni. That’s when Tendulkar came to the training ground at BKC Bandra,” recalled More, who also served as chairman of the BCCI selection committee.
“Tendulkar was watching from the gallery and when I met him later, after practice, he asked me, ‘who is this boy? He is batting so well. Itni achi batting kar rah hai!’ I told him that it’s the actor Sushant, who is preparing for a biopic on Dhoni. Tendulkar was so shocked and said, ‘he can play proper professional cricket if he wants to. He seems that good’.”
More said he first met Sushant at the Taj Hotel Bandra. “Since I was a wicketkeeper for India, the director and producer wanted me to coach him. Everything was fixed and we discussed how we will go about it,” More was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“It was a challenge for me to make an actor play like a cricketer and that too someone unorthodox like MS Dhoni. Sushant came with his spotboy, security guard, and a helper for the first session and I took him aside to tell him that from next day, he should come on his own, pick the kit bag, and enter the ground. I remember telling him, if you want to be a cricketer, you have to behave like one.”
