Mary Kom Review

MC Mary Kom is one such Indian sportsperson who will go down in history as one of the most successful Indian sportsperson and certainly the most successful and revered sportswoman. But the tragedy is a vast majority of Indians still don’t realize the struggles she went through to achieve whatever she achieved. So when director Omung Kumar decided to make a film on her we were all looking forward to it. As it is, India does not produce many sports films so a film like Mary Kom is always welcome. The promos have been generally well liked and the promotions have also been very good. The audience will come to watch the film but is it as good as the real Mary Mom’s escapades in the boxing field?

Story: The film Mary Kom, of course, tells the story of the real life India boxer MC Mary Kom. Young Mary Kom (Priyanka) liked to pick up fights and always had an aggressive streak in her. Boxing was the natural outlet for her aggression. So she joins boxing classes under coach M. Narjit Singh. She hides her boxing career from her dad who discovers it in the newspapers. After overcoming challenges raised by her family, she becomes a champion. But then she falls in love and gets married and has twins. Her marriage and subsequent motherhood aggravates her coach who thinks she is ruining her potential by settling down. However, the fighter that she is, she makes a comeback and wins three more world championships and along the way has to fight racial bias against Northeastern people and also the evil bureaucrats running Sports in India.

The biggest grouse that we have about Mary Kom is that the writer Saiwyn Quadras has written a script which is mainly a juxtaposition of various episodes from the dramatic life of Mary Kom without any coherent thought. The director Omung Kumat employs snazzy editing techniques towards the climax to make it a lot more fluid but by then the damage has been done. This is not to say that Mary Kom is a bad film. It is far from one. It is the employment of gender reversed clichéd plot points which make the film go away from the realistic approach it sorely required. Mary Kom has instead been turned into a masala action film where the main protagonist is an angry young woman with a golden heart, and did we mention she is a Northeastern who also happens to be a boxer?

Mary Kom Movie Review

The technical aspects of Mary Kom are actually good. They make the film look good. The production design is well done with most of the shooting taking place in actual locations of Imphal. The costume design is decent but the makeup is not up to the mark. Priyanka Chopra should have been made to look more like Mary Kom; adding a million freckles on her cheeks is lazy makeup work. The music of Mary Kom is good with the background songs and the background score going well with the tone of the film.

Acting: Priyanka Chopra has worked very hard for this project which is driven mainly by her star power. And she does vow us with her scintillating acting. Mary Kom is definitely one of her best performances, however, she could have taken it to a different level altogether. The other actors who play the other roles are well cast. Darshan Kumar who plays Mary Kom’s husband is a pleasant face but he has zero chemistry with Priyanka in the film. Sunil Thapa who plays Mary Mom’s coach is an irritating presence. Someone rub that frown from his face, pronto.

Conclusion: Mary Kom is a film that decides to forego the realistic approach of telling a true champion’s story and takes the masala route to earn a few extra bucks at the box office. A national icon like MC Mary Kom deserved a better movie even though this is not unwatchable by any means. It has many intriguing moments and the directing flaws are almost balanced out by the wonderful life story of MC Mary Kom. Go watch the film if you’re in the mood for spurious cinematic patriotism. Just don’t expect a masterpiece or even a film as good as Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

Box Office: Mary Kom will open well at the box office due to its good release date, huge screen count and a proper marketing strategy. We expect it to be liked by the audience and the box office numbers will surely surprise a lot of trade observers.

Positives:

• Decision to choose to make a film of MC Mary Kom
• Priyanka Chopra’s gutsy performance
• The production design is good
• The fight scenes feel realistic even if a bit overdone
• The editing

Negatives:

• The screenplay lacks any coherence
• The decision to make it into a masala film
• The makeup is silly

Rating: