The film was an authorised biopic of the Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who at the time was the captain of the Indian cricket team in the limited-overs format. It was conceived by Arun Pandey, Dhoni's childhood friend and the founder of Rhiti Sports, the company that managed the cricketer at the time. He went on to produce the film. Pandey broached the idea for the film with Dhoni after the 2011 Cricket World Cup final. It took him more than two years to get his friend on board. Dhoni was involved in the making of the film as a consultant. The film covered his life till the 2011 World Cup. Dhoni rejected the possibility of a sequel saying that it would be "very controversial". He was quoted as saying "After 2011 there were only controversies and nothing else. Nothing else is there. There will be only villains in it". It was reported that Dhoni was paid Rs. 45 crores for the rights to his story. Director Neeraj Pandey refuted these news reports but did not divulge the commercial arrangement with Dhoni for the film.[1][2][3]
Sushant Singh Rajput's role as a cricket coach in "Kai Po Che" (2013) helped him bag the lead role in this film. The actor spent nine months with former cricketer Kiran More training to play cricket shots like M.S. Dhoni. The authenticity of Sushant's cricketing shots in the film, particularly Dhoni's famous helicopter shot, was widely appreciated. The actor once said that Dhoni himself had complimented him on his cricketing skills and told him that he could qualify for Ranji Trophy cricket.[4][5][6]
The film was dubbed and released in Tamil and Telugu. There were plans to release the film in Marathi as well. The plans were dropped after the Chitrapat Karmachari Sena, an organisation affiliated with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), protested against the Marathi-dubbed version. Their contention was that such a release would encourage other Hindi filmmakers to dub their films in Marathi, taking away business from the Marathi film industry. However, the film's Marathi soundtrack was released as planned.[7][8]
This was actress Bhoomika Chawla's first Hindi film in almost a decade. Her last Hindi film prior to this was "Gandhi My Father" (2007).[9]
The film made extensive use of VFX to insert Sushant Singh Rajput in the footage of key matches played by M.S. Dhoni. BCCI confirmed that the filmmakers had acquired footage of the cricketer's matches for a price. VFX was also used to depict Sushant as a teenaged Dhoni.[10][11]
This was the debut Hindi film of actress Disha Patani.
