Mystery of MS Dhoni's love for painting resolved, it was all part of an ad!

A wave of concern went through the community of Indian cricket fans when a video came out featuring the former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It contained a message from the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman wherein he said that he has 'played enough cricket' and now wants to focus on his childhood passion of paintings.

The puerile nature of paintings belied his assertion that he will soon have an exhibition of his artworks. It was clear by the end of this video that it was a joke. But a day later, the full mystery of MSD's love of art has been revealed. It was all part of an advertisement, for Snickers chocolate bar.

The sequel to the original video featured Mahi with the same look and apparently shot from the same camera, ascribing his statements to 'hunger.' The former captain promises to give up any illusions about his artistic merit and advises those who liked his paintings to curb their hunger as well.

Dhoni has been a brand ambassador for the company and has featured in their TV ads before as well. In the earlier promotional campaigns for television, the company focussed on the image of Dhoni as Mr. Cool. They showed him losing his level-headedness when hungry and getting cured by a bite of Snickers bar.

Most people would have realised that the video where Dhoni claims to have been passionate about art and has decided to focus on painting was nothing more than a prank. Though Dhoni did his best to appear as serious as he could while making these proclamations, the crude nature of paintings gave the game away partially. The advertisers have to be credited for shooting the ad in a rather clever way and releasing it online so that it seems that it was all the work of an amateur Dhoni than a professional advertising agency.

Now that we know the reality, we can look forward to some great performances from Mahi in the World Cup. What he does after the World Cup regarding his career, only time will tell.