Mary Kom movie review: Priyanka Chopra shines in tribute to India's one-in-a-billion baby

Mary Kom and Priyanka Chopra

The need for a movie like ‘Mary Kom’

Despite being a sports blogger and ardent follower of India in the big non-cricket events, I hung my head in shame while analyzing India's prospects for the 2010 Asian Games. That was the first time I got to know of Mary Kom. By that time, she had been bestowed the title of 'Magnificent Mary', won five world championship golds, nurtured two lovely babies, survived a near tragedy, fought poverty, federations and odds to become one of Indian sport’s living legends.

Two years later she added an Olympic medal to her haul. But till date, the country hardly knows her, barely recognizes her and most will struggle to put a finger at Manipur's coordinates in a blank map of India. This story had to be told.

A study in fighting against the odds

The opening scene of SLB's Mary Kom portrays the plight of a three time world champion living in a dilapidated house, walking over muddy dirty lanes, in torrential rain, in search of transport, to reach the hospital and deliver her babies.

Instantly, I wished that instead of an inspiring movie fighting opponents, Omung Kumar had made a Paan Singh Tomar - mirroring the nation and society which refuses to acknowledge sportspersons and still treats women as secondary citizens.

There's not much to say about the script of the movie that you don’t know already. It follows the boxer's autobiography titled ‘Unbreakable’ for the most part, and chronicles her struggles and successes before she shot to international fame with her Olympic medal.

Priyanka Chopra and Bollywood deserve kudos for their intentions...

Priyanka Chopra gives her career’s best performance, which almost leaves you convinced that no other acress could have done a better job with the difficult role. If word of mouth about this movie spreads, it will mainly be for Chopra – it is almost certain that she will make it to all the annual awards contenders list.

Bollywood also deserves kudos for giving us the year's fifth woman-centric film – Highway, Queen, Bobby Jasoos and Mardaani being the others.

The nature of boxing as a sport has great ingredients for a revenge movie, which Hollywood has cashed upon well – from Million Dollar Baby to Cinderella Man to the Rocky series. Bollywood's answer so far had been Boxer, Apne and Ghulam. The last mentioned, was in my opinion a better product than Mary Kom.

...but the surprise factor is missing

This story was more about a person from an unexpected corner making it to the world's número uno through passion, 'zidd' and 'paagalpan'. Unfortunately, the odds aren't highlighted well enough, nor are the victories celebrated much. The movie has less lump-in-throat or heart-pounding moments than you would have expected.

We see most of what was already in the papers. The surprise factor, the shock element are missing. Her struggles, parents’ sacrifices and boxing rivalries deserved more depth and screen time, although that would have compromised on pace.

Still, credit has to be given where it is due. Biopics are hardly watched here even by snooty multiplex audiences – which to a certain degree justifies the masala added to attract the masses.

The support cast, particularly Darshan Kumaar, is commendable. Manipur's lush greenery and the Manali landscape are shot beautifully. The preparation scenes are great and Chopra towers over every situation effortlessly. The makers keep the surroundings realistic and efforts to give the protagonist a local look – slightly bloated cheeks to make the eyes smaller, freckles, thicker lips and flatter chest – work well.

Mary Kom continues to fight the good fight

Mary Kom the boxer, meanwhile, is preparing for the Olympics 2016 undeterred. She runs a fight club for ladies’ self defence and is not half as much of a celebrity when compared to Sania Mirza or even some male boxers. The blame for that goes to the government, the media and the general ignorance among us Indians.

Mary Kom received two crores rupees from various ministries after her 2012 Olympic medal. A certain pair of cricketing brothers from Baroda mint multiples of that amount individually from IPL every year.

Keeping all that in mind, Mary Kom the movie, despite its flaws, is certainly a welcome sight. So thank you to the entire team of ‘Mary Kom', and here's wishing Magnificient Mary the very best for Rio 2016.

Rating: 3.75/5

Box office prospects

India's best woman-centric movie, Queen, started poorly and after word of mouth labored to 97 crores. Word of mouth will hold key for Mary Kom, and likely it will end up grossing around the 50-70 crore mark, although I wish it touches triple digits.