A relatable middle-class Bollywood romance set around the nation’s favourite sport and produced by a big-shot production house, the concept of Mr and Mrs Mahi definitely had all the ingredients to create a mega-blockbuster.
The fact that the female lead, played by an A-list star, Janhvi Kapoor, would be the one picking up the bat was what got me interested enough to go watch the film on the first day itself. Unfortunately, the way the plot unfolded was quite disappointing, as the focus was clearly more on Mr Mahi, played by Rajkumar Rao, than an inspiring empowerment story on Mrs Mahi.
Mahima (Mrs Mahi) and Mahendra (Mr Mahi) are brought together in an arranged marriage setting, but their love only starts to blossom when they both discover their mutual obsession with cricket. In one of the scenes from the former half of the movie, we see both protagonists waking up early in the morning to watch a test match where the Indian men’s team is playing in Australia. Mahima fanatically comments on the playing conditions and the type of bowling that will help India win.
As a fellow female cricket nerd, this scene really struck a chord with me, and I was hopeful to see how Mahima’s character would develop as a cricketer. At this point, the script had the opportunity to explore both characters equally. However, it over-highlights Mahendra’s insecurities as a failed ex-cricketer turned coach while he desperately seeks his father’s validation, and the movie essentially misses the chance to build Mahima’s character as an inspirational sportswoman.
The second half of the movie is painfully disappointing, to say the least, as it does more disservice to women’s cricket than favouring it. The film also misses the opportunity to mention any established women cricketers or real-life challenges faced by female sportswomen.
Women’s sport in the real world is accompanied by a plethora of issues, like poor monetary compensation, a lack of adequate facilities, insufficient research on female health issues, societal stigma, bullying, and harassment, to name a few. Even as fans of the game, both the Mahis conveniently fail to mention the female cricketers. We also see Mahendra’s father putting up pictures of only the male icons of the game.
After her selection in the Rajasthan team, Mahima is asked to give a press conference where a reporter asks her, “Who do you like more—Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni?” While I place no doubt that they are absolute legends of the game and deserve all the mentions they get, the writers could have made a tiny effort to include the names of some female cricketers as well.
In the day and age where women’s cricket is gaining more professional ground, especially with the coming of the Women’s Premier League, it is not hard to draw parallels of success by including names like Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. This could have been included quite easily without deviating much from the original storyline and was another missed opportunity to create the right impact.
In the latter half of the movie, we see Mahima beginning her training, which is followed by selection at the state level. The disappointing part is that none of these are addressed in a token manner. In fact, even her confrontation with her parents is limited to just one scene, and there is no depth to the dilemma she faces while leaving her job, as a doctor, and moving into sports. Even while the protagonist is shown playing cricket, there could have been some effort to show her relying on her own strategic knowledge, because she did have the aptitude for it, and building camaraderie with her teammates.
In fact, what comes as a far-from-inspiring turn to the movie is the protagonist on the field signifying that she is not serious about her career in sports, as her performance on the field seems to be solely linked to her husband’s emotional encouragement. The movie fails to treat Mahima as a professional cricketer and, in doing so, sends out a very confused message to any young girl who is keen to play sports.
The only inspiring aspect of the film for me came from a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube that shows the training effort put in by Jhanvi Kapoor to adopt the right batting stances and techniques, as she had no experience playing cricket or even watching it before. In this, she openly talks about the hardships and injuries that she went through to get ready for this role.
It would have been nice to have some of this transpire in the actual movie, where the training scenes are interspersed after watching those, almost too often with romantic moments between the two Mahis. In the past, films like Dangal, Mary Kom and Shabaash Mithu have done a great job of portraying the intensity and complexity of female sports stars. After watching them I was left with a sense of motivation and pride. I know Mr and Mrs Mahi is not a sports biopic but it could have learnt a bit from actual stories of women in sports to create a slightly more empowering character of Mahima.
Perhaps, it is better to call this film just Mr Mahi as Mrs Mahi and her journey as a cricketer really remains only in the background of the film.
(The author is an all-rounder in her family-owned business when she's not being a cricket nerd. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)