The SRK-Dhoni Connection

While we all know that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a great team leader, none really imagined that there was more to him that just cricket (and changing hairstyles of course).

The Ranchi boy was quite comfortable in front of the camera as he is front of wickets or behind it. We are talking about Dhoni’s cameo with none other than Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan.

Dhoni will be seen with SRK in a soon-to-be-released television ad for Videocon. According to the unit, the Team India captain has all the qualities required to become a “good, spontaneous actor”.

Even Shah Rukh Khan is full of praises for the ace cricketer, “It was really nice working with Dhoni. He is so humble and always smiling. He has a great sense of humour and was really sporting about the whole shoot. He was also very professional and really good at acting too. I had a great day with him and wish him all the best for cricket and acting.”

The acting legend and the cricketing genius have interchanged roles in the ad where SRK will play a cricketer, while Dhoni will do the ‘superstar’ act; and it seems no one could have done an SRK better than Dhoni.

Says Piyush Pandey of O&M, the agency that has created the ad, “We all know SRK is a fabulous actor, but Dhoni left us spellbound with his acting skills. The guy was a charm to watch. There are a lot of filmy clichés incorporated in the ad like taking off on Rajesh Khanna etc. But Dhoni does it so effortlessly! He can easily be a great actor.”

In fact it was King Khan who suggested that they do a campaign together during the T20 match.

Adds ad director Sumanto Chattopadhyay, “Dhoni has a great sense of humour and that really comes across in the ad. In fact despite his tight schedules, he was more than ready to give all his time if the shots weren’t alright.”

The ad was shot just a day before Shah Rukh’s birthday on November 2 and Dhoni was a part of the birthday celebrations on the sets which included Farah Khan and a few other friends of his.

Shah Rukh also autographed Dhoni’s jacket which he wore in the ad as a part of imitating Shah Rukh’s character in ‘Om Shanti Om’.