FINDING MARY

The very first thing to hit me as I was watching Mary Kom was that the utter ridiculousness of the situation.  I was largely unaware of the existence and life of Mary Kom till she came into limelight largely due to the movie. A sportsperson so talented and determined gets no air space nor paper space; while any of our cricketers so much as sneeze, it makes headlines. That was the entire point of the movie I guess, which I am in complete tandem with.

The critic in me did rear her head once or twice during the movie. There are a couple of cloyingly melodramatized moments during her fights that are too conveniently timed. The inexperience of the director is evident sporadically, especially in instances like handling the reactions of the German boxer Sasha and her coach. They both are portrayed as absolutely black with no shades of grey whatsoever, whereas an objective handling of the situation would have been more mature.

Having said that, whether the movie was well made or not, well directed or not, didn’t seem to matter much as the movie gained momentum. The critic in me was punched out, and rightly so, by the two heroines of the movie – Mary Kom and Priyanka Chopra. What shone through was the sheer grit and tenacity of Mary Kom - the protagonist and the person.

I have a new-found respect for Priyanka Chopra after the movie, a feeling that was triggered by her heart warming portrayal of Jhilmil Chatterjee in Barfi. Priyanka is finally finding her acting feet; firmly putting her diva crutches aside as she pulls off the character of Mary Kom with aplomb. There is a sincere attempt on her part to capture the nuances of verbal and body language of Mary Kom and, for once, the ‘deglam look’ of a heroine seems completely justified. And, the freckles are to absolutely die for!

Maybe it is the woman in me that roots for the movie so strongly and makes me wonder if the male audience connects as much with the protagonist. But these musings apart, it is story that is and should be an inspiration for every person, especially all husbands out there! … Wink … Wink