With a record opening of Rs. 21.3 crore net on opening day Sept. 30, “M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story” has challenged the Khans’ and other superstars’ monopoly on smashing opening day collections.
The Neeraj Pandey-directed biopic on cricketer Dhoni with Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role has turned out to be the first-ever real-life saga to challenge the superstars on home turf. The biopic has achieved the impossible by entering the league so far monopolized largely by the three Khans, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgn by setting records for the opening day numbers.
MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, which is based on the life of Indian cricketer MS Dhoni, is one of the most-awaited Bollywood movies of 2016. Its promos have garnered a lot of attention and its makers have promoted the movie widely. Along with MS Dhoni, Sushant Singh Rajput and other stars visited several media houses and toured some cities across the country to promote the movie.
Here, director Neeraj Pandey takes us 15 years earlier when Pan Singh Dhoni (Anupam Kher) is a pump operator in Ranchi. The local stadium needs water and that requires him to wake up at eleven in the night. He waters the stadium in a hazy winter night. Pan’s little son watches him from the balcony of his government quarter, and probably this is the moment when the kid decides to make it big in life. It’s the story of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Sushant Singh Rajput), the current India captain and one of the game’s most popular exponents ever.
The film has amassed a humongous Rs. 21.3 crore net (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu) at the box office. Co-starring Disha Patani, Kiara Advani and Anupam Kher, it has music by Amaal Mallik.
Clearly, Day One has belonged to the subject of M.S. Dhoni, the skills of Neeraj Pandey and the marketing/promotion/distribution strategy of Fox that saw the film in 5,000 screens. However, the man who will profit the most is Rajput, without whom the film could not have been what it is.