Cast: Prakash Raj, Radhika Apte, Brahmanandam
Director: Prakash Raj
Rating: 3/5
Dhoni emerges as a successful attempt!
He is already a highly successful actor and a credible producer in Kollywood. And now, Prakash Raj makes his mark as a director too, with Dhoni, an interesting and honest film on children, their dreams and other things.
The film's strength lies in its script. Backed by a strong story and screenplay, Prakash Raj has conveyed a message to revamp the entire educational system. The performances in the movie are backed by music from the legendary Ilayaraja and cinematographer K V Guhan.
While the former infuses life to the film with his soul-stirring songs and background score, the latter adds colour to the script with his lens. In a sense, these two people are pillars of strength for Prakash Raj.
Subramanyam (Prakash Raj) works in a government office. He does other part time jobs too (like selling pickles), only to ensure that his son Karthik (Akash) and daughter get education from a reputed school.
But his son is not interested in studies, as he dreams to become a leading cricket player like Team India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. As a result, he performs very poor in exams and the school decides to withhold his results.
Coming to know of his, Subramanyam verbally and physically attacks his son. The young boy, unable to cope up with the abuse, slips into coma. Only now Subramanyam realises his folly. He also decides to take up the cause of revamping the system.
It's Prakash Raj's show all the way. As a caring father and a helpless man, he stands out. Akash excels with his talented performance. Others in the cast, including Radhika Apte and Brahmanandam, are adequate. Prakash Raj manages to take good care of the background score, cinematography and other technical aspects of the film.
The film has some minus points too. The second half is slow and has preachy tone at some places and slow narration. Above all this, Dhoni emerges as a successful attempt for its honest theme and decent execution. Such movies are rare in these parts.