CT Review: A detached biopic

That Bollywood renders even the most profound of subjects into a simplistic, formulaic, viewer-friendly capsule is a proven fact. Anything from the Partition to the Independence movement to the lives of the extraordinary will come out cliché-ridden in Bollywood.

Mary Kom, the eponymous biopic on India’s Olympic bronze medal winning boxer from the north-eastern state of Manipur, is no exception.

Rather than exploring the sub-texts of this feisty, determined woman’s rise to international success, or even attempting to bring out the milieu of Manipur (apart from a few staccato lines that stand out like a sore thumb), the film takes all the baggage of Bollywood, including the star-status of its leading lady Priyanka Chopra, to what is a ‘new setting’ for the Hindi film industry.

And truth be told, the setting is just spectacular. Mary Kom has frames of the less documented (in mainstream cinema) side of India captured in a dream-like evocative flourish by Keiko Nakahara. Who ever said that cinematography cannot be painting!

But great visuals can still only go so far, if what plays out on screen seldom rises above the ordinary. While one must applaud director Omung Kumar for his effort to capture a state and sport that are often ignored by Indians, you wish he had invested a little more into the fine art of story-telling.

Mary Kom becomes a very one-dimensional take on the exceptional life of the boxer. There is no emotional connect with the character, except on rare occasions, and Priyanka Chopra, while obviously having given her heart and soul to the character, remains to a large extent the Priyanka Chopra from Bollywood. She seldom drops her guard, even her nail finishes are intact.

For the most part, you watch Mary Kom with impassioned disinterest, at times wondering when the saga will conclude. The biggest personal crisis in Kom’s life is her decision to enter married life – even after her coach Narjit Singh (played with the desired gravitas by Sunil Thapa, never attempting to overshadow Chopra), makes it known he would have no further role in her career.

Going ahead with her decision to marry Onler (Darshan Kumar, a great performer but given a plastic character), thus, is the turning point of Kom. Her come-back, despite being a homemaker, is also one of the most brilliant personal sides of the boxer, who in real life is preparing for her next big bout after giving birth to her third son last year. Yet, Kumar reduces it all into a weepy, Bollywood affair – brand endorsements included.

Never going into the depths of Kom’s life or exploring the emotional quotient of the people who influenced and shaped her life, Mary Kom simply patches together several life incidents. That does not even make compelling documentary, let alone a full-fledged feature.

If only Kumar and his team (with creative support from Sanjay Leela Bhansali, himself), had focused a trifle more on Manipur and less on Bollywood’s box office, including its choice of the lead star, India might have got a great movie instead of this also-ran.

In an interview Onler said that many in Delhi mistook Mary for a housemaid when she went to the capital for her boxing championships. She was the unknown who became the pride of India – the Magnificent Mary.

Mary Kom, the film, works in reverse. It puts one of the biggest stars of Bollywood into the shoes of Kom, and reduces her life into a cliché. How then can we call this a tribute!

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Mary Kom

Director: Omung Kumar

Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Darshan Kumar, Sunil Thapa

Now playing at theatres in the UAE