'Arre tu to bilkul photocopy kar diya, Ranji Trophy khel jaoge tum' - When MS Dhoni praised Sushant Singh Rajput for his work ethics

Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise has brought the entire country to a shock. The 34-year-old lost his life to an alleged suicide. He was found dead in his Bandra home on Sunday afternoon.

For a lot of people, he was a popular actor but for many cricket fans, he was the actor who brought MS Dhoni’s story to life in the 2016 biopic movie based on the former India captain. During an interaction, the producer of the movie, Arun Pandey, who is also Dhoni’s business manager, revealed some of his thoughts and memories of Sushant.

When MS Dhoni saw Sushant copy the helicopter shot

Recalling the first time, when Dhoni saw Sushant play his famous ‘helicopter shot’, Pandey said that the cricketer at the time had credited Sushant for that. He also said that Dhoni predicted that he could play in the Ranji Trophy.

“I still remember that child-like smile on Sushant’s face when Mahi, after watching a training clip of the actor playing the helicopter shot on his phone, said in jest: ‘Arre tu to bilkul photocopy kar diya, Ranji Trophy khel jaoge tum,'” Pandey said as reported by Indian Express.

Pandey further talked about the way in which the actor planned to look and present himself like MS Dhoni. Sushant who was a terrific actor decided to spend some time with the wicketkeeper-batsman. Pandey said that the actor would try and understand the mannerisms of the cricketer which enhanced his role further. Pandey also talked about one day when Dhoni said to Sushant that he is asking too many questions.

“He would have long sessions with Dhoni too. Again, the questions kept on coming. If he wasn’t satisfied with any answer or if Dhoni was evasive, he would slightly twist the same question and try his luck again. Once I remember, Dhoni rolled his eyes and said: ‘Arre bhai, kitne questions poochta hai tu!’ I remember Sushant’s reply. He said, ‘Bhaisaab, everybody is going to search you in me, I will have to do everything the same way as you do’,” Pandey added.

The movie, ‘MS Dhoni: The untold story’ went on to do really well at the box office. Sushant was praised a lot for his performance and received several accolades as well.