Residents in MS Dhoni's ancestral village will not watch his biopic

The life of India’s favourite captain is celebrated in the best way possible in Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, which released last Friday. Fans all across the country have flooded the theatres to watch the movie and were impressed with Sushant Singh’s perfect portrayal of Dhoni and the brilliant screenplay.

Sadly, the family who made Dhoni who he is today with their love and support won’t be able to watch it on the big screen.

The ancestral village of the Indian skipper, Lawali, lies in the Almora district of Uttarakhand, and it won’t be easy for the villagers or Dhoni’s uncle Ganpat, to watch it in a movie hall because the nearest theatre is 115 km away. The district headquarters of Lawali, Almora, is 75 kilometres away but there are no cinema halls there.

While cricket fans across the country are excited to watch the film and tried to hit the halls on the releasing day itself, it failed to excite the villagers of Dhoni’s ancestral home.

Lawali, like many other villages in Uttarakhand, is very remote and has limited resources. One would come across villagers working in the fields, women carrying fodder and grazing cattle. The saddest part is that the place from where the World Cup-winning captain hails from lacks even a proper playground.

"We have to ferry sick villagers on dolis (palanquin) to the nearest hospital located at Jainti. We recently submitted a proposal to the district administration demanding building a stadium at our village - for which the villagers have indicated their willingness to donate their land. But, so far nothing has happened,” Dhoni’s cousin Hayat told Catch News.

Though Dhoni’s father left Lawali long ago and settled in Ranchi, he is still in touch with the people there but ‘Captain Cool’ himself visited his village way back in 2003.

"Pan Singh uncle came here in 2011 to attend a wedding function. Uncle may have left several years ago to settle down in Ranchi, but he continues to keep in touch with his roots,” Village resident Puran Bhandari told the same website.

Lawali grabbed a lot of attention only due to the Indian skipper’s success, which otherwise would have been far away from the media’s attention. In fact, many cricket fans visit the place and it has become somewhat of a tourist attraction.

Yet, the villagers have no means to watch the Dhoni biopic and will have to wait for the movie to be aired on Television.