Hotstar makes its 'Specials' debut with MS Dhoni feat 'Roar of the Lion'

In India, Cricket has been a sport on the field and a "religion" for fans. Sports channels' viewership tends to sky-rocket every time these teams of gentlemen walk onto a pitch. However, sports broadcasting in general and cricket, in particular, stayed confined to live telecasts only, beyond which there was very little to watch.

With the advent of digital video and OTT (over-the-top) players, things are rapidly changing. In March, two India-centred sports documentaries were released, almost back-to-back. On March 1, 2019, Netflix made its documentary around the Indian Premier League franchise - Mumbai Indians - available for streaming. Titled 'Cricket Fever', the eight-episode series, produced by Condé Nast, takes a viewer through a behind the scenes journey of the franchise in its 2018 campaign.

On March 20, 2019, Hotstar, under its newly announced Hotstar Specials vertical, released 'Roar of the Lion'. The lion in this series is none other than Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the show is about the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) way back to the tournament and their journey to triumph in the 2018 edition. CSK was banned for a period of two years by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha commission. This was due to the owner of the franchise and MD, India Cements' N Srinivasan's son-in-law, Gurunath Meyappam's "betting activities".

MS Dhoni, as the lead protagonist of the docu-drama, narrates what he, the management and fellow teammates went through during that period. The verdict was announced in 2015, ruling CSK out from the 2016 and 2017 editions of the cash-rich tournament. Dhoni shares his emotional experience and how tough it was for him to handle the press as his name was also linked with the incident time and again. "The biggest crime that I can commit is not murder, it is match-fixing," he says in the series.

One of the iconic moments of the series is stock footage of one of MS Dhoni's speeches where he addresses the CSK team and management, just before the beginning of the 2018 tournament. Dhoni says, "It has been a difficult two years for us, but our fan base has only increased...," and he chokes and chokes again, eventually breaking down with tears. CSK's tagline in 2018 was "Tell Them We Are Back" and they went on to win the tournament to become the only franchise to win IPL three-times, after Mumbai Indians.

Varun Narang

Deepak Dhar

While 'Roar of the Lion' is a story of CSK's comeback to IPL, the series marks the debut of Hotstar Specials - a vertical under which Star India plans to release its digital-only original shows. "Hotstar Specials aim to present viewers with big, bold and authentic stories. 'Roar of the Lion' fit that bill perfectly. We also wanted to go against the usual grain and launch with a docu-drama," says Varun Narang - EVP and chief product officer at Hotstar. The series is produced in partnership with MS Dhoni Entertainment and Banijay Asia (a joint venture between French studio Banijay and former EndemolShine India CEO, Deepak Dhar).

Banijay Asia founder and CEO, Deepak Dhar, says he, along with his partner MS Dhoni entertainment (a 50-50 JV), started working on the series right after IPL 2018. "MS Dhoni has been exploring a possible opportunity in the entertainment space and we met two or three times to discuss how we can work together and that is how it started," says Dhar. "When we started looking for stories, we said why not tell the story of CSK's comeback which is so close to MS Dhoni. CSK, as he shared, is not a franchise but a family, with huge emotional connect and that is how we decided to tell 'Roar of the Lion'."

In the initial stages, the Dhoni-Dhar partnership was thinking about a scripted series to tell the story, but Dhar felt it would be another one in the crowd. "Scripted series to tell a story is done too often by so many people; there are plenty of them in the market. That is why I said let us do a docu-drama where MS Dhoni himself narrates the story and thus, we made it with Dhoni, as the lead protagonist," he adds.

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Dhar says they "embarked" on the journey without knowing where it would be released and then eventually associated with Hotstar as the streaming partner. "Star is the Mecca of Cricket and therefore, Hotstar was the perfect platform for us to release the show. And the timing could not have been better; telling a cricket story on a platform that is streaming it is certainly the ideal match," Dhar states.

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Insertions promoting the series were played throughout the opening match of the tournament played between MS Dhoni's CSK and Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore. "The initial response to both the trailer and consequently, the show, has been very good. While we can't share exact numbers, suffice it to say the show has seen massive traction and an outpouring of affection on social media," informs Varun Narang, adding, "Our belief is that India is ready for this kind of new storytelling and the initial feedback and viewership is complete testament to that." Audiences can view this and similar exclusive shows released under the Hotstar Specials vertical on SVOD services - Hotstar Premium and Hotstar VIP.

Though it features Dhoni sitting in one place narrating the story, with footage of last year's IPL, the investment on production was at par with other scripted fiction series streaming on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, ALTBalaji and others, according to Dhar. "This is very premium in terms of the team that was attached to it - Kabir Khan, writers, episodic directors who came from the feature film world. We always wanted 'Roar of the Lion' to be a high-end premium story," he says. According to Dhar, such shows, with only five episodes and 124 minutes of running time, can only be made for the subscription-based video on demand platform.

Ayaz Memon

Renowned sports author, Ayaz Memon also featured in the series sharing his point of view on what is touted as one of the biggest scams of IPL. He feels there are many more such stories which can now find a screen due to the advent of digital video and streaming platforms. "It (digital) is not bound by space. If we consider television, there is only so much you can pack in a day's programme and it is a finite space. Also, this appeals to a different kind of audience, those more hooked on sports," says Memon.

About some of the other great stories out there, Memon says, "Any elite sportsperson, be it Dhoni, Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal or anyone else, they are all super achievers and therefore, have great stories."

Now, after these docu-dramas around IPL franchises - CSK and Mumbai Indians - it remains to be seen if six other teams will also try and tell their stories and make this a new trend.