Mary Kom (2014)

Many times when you watch a movie especially a biopic which has an inspiring story you may overlook the flaws and technicalities, such was my experience with "Mary Kom".

Debutant Director Omung Kumar brings life the story of Boxing Champion "Mary Kom". The story & screenplay of Saiwyn Qadras charts the journey of a daughter of a simple farmer Mangte Chungneijang from Manipur to becoming the 5 times World Champion MC Mary Kom or Magnificent Mary as she is called.

Saiwyn's screenplay is shaky in the beginning but concludes on a high note. The first half looks more like a collage of incidents in Mary Kom's life put on celluloid with no cohesiveness in the narration and everything is shown in a hurry which does not have any emotional connect, but in the second half the movie takes a 360 degree turn in the narration and shows us Mary Kom's comeback after becoming a mother. The second half the narration shows a lot of depth and emotions which are depicted well concluding the movie to a high octane dramatic end. Though a lot of people will find the climax a bit dramatic but the bottom-line is at the end it strikes the right cord and you come out being proud of Mary Kom and her achievements. The other flaw in the script is that it does not delve deep in the other character's storyline.

The dialogues by Ramendra Vashishtha and Karan Singh Rathore is good but quite inconsistent in the getting the language and the dialect right. Though the dialogues has a few Manipuri words being used but sometimes the dialect and language of the principal cast look a bit out of place especially Mary Kom's character.

Omung Kumar's direction is sincere and honest and it comes through in the narration especially in the second half. The one flaw in Omung's direction is his hurried narration; he should have paid more heed to the characterization of other principal characters other than Mary Kom's. Though being Omung's first film as a director and choosing a biopic as a subject really needs a lot of conviction, and he shows the spark as a director.

Performance wise it is definitely Priyanka Chopra all the way. She is sincere in her portrayal as a boxer Mary Kom, her whole transformation from a glam doll to a boxer physically right from the body language to the way she talks is to be seen to believe. Frankly I had my reservations about Priyanka portraying the role but she has really surprised me with her portrayal. Another stand out performance is of Darshan Kumaar who plays Onler Kom, Mary's husband the real pillar of strength in the boxer's life. Darshan 's underplaying the portrayal gives the needed depth required, an actor to watch out for. Sunil Thapa as Mary's coach does a good job.

I have to mention the makeup artist Subhash Shinde who really did a marvelous job of Priyanka's transformation to Mary Kom, minute details like skin pigmentation etc has been taken care of. The production design by Omung's wife Vanita Omung Kumar is realistic and convincing. Stunts by Parvez Shaikh and boxing choreography by Robert Miller bring the required authenticity and thrills in the boxing sequences.

Although it is not a "Million Dollar Baby", but it is definitely an applauding attempt which is worth a watch.....

Fmovies: I am a hard core movie fan and I was impressed after watching the trailer of 'MARY KOM' and decided that I have to watch this movie. I have always been a big fan of sports movies be it Chak De India, Iqbal or Lagaan. The movie is a 'Biopic' of Indian Boxer 'Mary Kom' who hails from Manipur. How she becomes Boxer, relationship with her father, struggles in career, discovering her husband and other hurdles faced on road to being a champion.

What works in the movie?

Acting: A brilliant portrayal by Priyanka chopra s Mary Kom, she has worked really hard for the film and you can clearly see that effort visible on the screen both physically (Training) and mentally (Acting).

Cinematography: I must really applaud the way the cinematographer has pictured the boxing ring, locations, moods, emotions, lighting. Really good job.

Music & BGM: The nom is, sports movies shouldn't have songs but major movie going population in India is accustomed to songs and the Director has managed to place the songs subtly in the movie intelligently.

What doesn't work?

Editing: Editing is very important aspect of the movie, it majorly determines the big factor 'length' The movie is about 2 hour 5 minutes and for a Biopic I thought this wasn't enough, it needed to be a bit long.

Fight sequences: I was disappointed with the fight sequences in the movie. The boxing match that takes place in the ring should have been better choreographed, c'mon? You are showing a world champion boxer you got to get it as close to reality as possible. No comparisons but see the movie 'Million Dollar baby'.

Direction and Screenplay: I think the director should have worked better on the screenplay which keeps the audiences hooked to the screen; there were moments where I was not interested on what's going in the screen. It's a challenging job for the director to capture a biopic as you cannot make major alterations to the story and you have to keep it as close to the reality.

After watching this movie my respect towards Priyanka as an Actor has increased to the next level and I knew Mary Kom is a boxer in India but after this movie she holds highest respect as a sports person in my world. I give this movie a 7/10 and I would recommend a onetime watch.

Oh and more point: You should stand up at the end of the movie if you are an 'Indian'

I have read a lot of criticism of this film lately. Many critics commented that the film lacked a proper melodrama and screenplay could have been bettered. Well, I also felt the film lacked certain punches in the screenplay; but overall, the film is a very sincere effort to present the life story of a sports person. I simply found three very strong reasons to admire this film.

The first reason is the story. Very few Hindi films have done justice with the real life characters. And this one fully handles the story of a north Indian girl who defies her father by choosing boxing. Bollywood recently lacked good stories in its films and "Mary Kom" just sincerely fills the void. The second reason is its clarity in presentation. The film nowhere compromises for the formulaic sequences and remains truthful to its backdrop. Very few directors dare to make a complete sports movie which this does. And the last and the most strong reason is the performances. Though Priyanka doesn't look like a North Indian girl she steals the show by appearing ferocious boxer and a loving mother. Perhaps this is her second best film I've watched after "Fashion." Similarly, Sunil Thapa and Darshaan Kumar in very unpolished roles also do deliver good performances.

Well, don't go with a great hype for this film. It's simply a good and a naturalistic film in a dearth of good movies. Trust me, you won't leave your seats with a scorn.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

Mary Kom fmovies. Watching this film at 2AM and ended up still energetic and awake at 4AM. The duration of the film is 2hr 1minute. Not a single is boring. Trust me, this is a biopic of an Indian female boxer. The director fully utilize the actor in Priyanka Chopra. PC gaves her career best performance till date. This movie has a heart pounding climax. The film is an astonishing spectacular.

Couple of brilliant knocks with plenty of bad misses. Could have been an excellent epic movie but overall turned out to be an average one. Tried to show a lot of things in a chaotic manner which lacked finesse. Pee Cee was sometimes good, specially the training period. The director seemed totally confused and lacked focus. There were plenty things which were over done like too much of useless aggression which could have been shown in a better way, people spoke in manipuri Hindi accent and again the same suddenly had a flawless Hindi outburst and the worst was Pee Cee in sweet 16 school uniform ... sorry utterly unaccepted. Its a good one time watch though, has all the content of a typical family weekend movie with love, inspiration, Patriotism and sportsmanship which again could have been like the outstanding "Rocky Balboa" types .... but sadly not, as I said a big disappointment !!!

This week's release, Omung Kumar's MARY KOM is one such film which is a biopic on one of India's most illustrious sports personalities, Mary Kom, who, despite all her hardships, put our country on the international map with her achievements. The film goes on to show the real life story of this sports star, which not many are aware of. The film serves as an eye opener not just on the fact that India can produce international 'gold medal winning' boxers, but also that Manipur is very much a part of India!

Omung does a great job of building up the climax with heart wrenching scenes where Mary chooses to box over spending a blissful life with her family. Post her opting to box, Mary accidentally lands up at the boxing training academy of her coach Narjit Singh (Sunil Thapa), who, after seeing her persistence, teaches her that 'the world maybe round for everyone, but her world should be the shape of the boxing ring, a Square'! Mary's talent for the sport combined with her coach's training form a deadly unbeatable lethal combo who go on to win international competitions galore.