Mary Kom (2014)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Good concept, poorly executed.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Before going for MARY KOM this Friday, I had four positives in mind about the attempt made, giving it a finer edge in comparison to a few recent biographical movies coming from Hindi Cinema.Firstly it's a biopic made in an Industry which doesn't like to venture in this particular genre in terms of commercial cinema and that too talking about the life of a woman, which is even a rarer attempt by the makers unarguably.Secondly it's supposed to be a sports movie which again is a genre rarely chosen by our reputed directors and that too focusing on Boxing, a much lesser followed sport than Cricket, Hockey, Athletics or Wrestling in India.Thirdly and most importantly its not a biopic of an old person, who had done it many decades ago. On the contrary it's a film made on the life of a talented sportswoman, rather a mother, who is still young at 31 and still kicking to go further in her achievements fighting many more competitions coming ahead in the next years. And one seldom gets to see a biopic of a person who is this young and still active in his or her particular field representing the country all over the world, so proudly.In cinematic terms, the project also had a worth mentioning strong merit of being the debut directorial film of a highly experienced and known artist Omung Kumar who began his career as an anchor almost two decades before and then remained associated with numerous reputed projects as a Production Desinger/Art Director including films like BLACK and SAAWARIYA.So having these four positive points in mind and one negative one about the unnecessary glamourization of an important bio-pic, featuring Priyanka Chopra, I was excited to watch the film, only to get disappointed to a much larger extent than feared, witnessing the dismal attempt quite sadly.But before moving on to the review, I would like to clearly mention that this is a just an honest analysis of the movie made on the life of the highly respected sportswoman of our country titled MARY KOM and not in any way pointing towards the iconic figure or her majestic achievements at all.The film begins with a fine opening sequence shuttling between the present and past of a pregnant woman being taken to the hospital by her husband, amongst the tension spread in the city due to the revolting groups. The pretty weak 'boxing training' scenes coming next, straight away remind you of the masterpiece MILLION DOLLAR BABY revolving around another brave lady boxer, directed by the maestro Clint Eastwood. And then as it progresses further one feels truly amazed to see everything happening so easily in a pure filmy manner, unable to move or impress the viewer neither emotionally nor excitingly.In fact some poor choices made in the supporting cast (like Mary's mother and her coach), too many below average songs coming repeatedly, uninspiring fight sequences and a quite lifeless direction by Omung, completely ruins the whole excitement felt in the beginning with a clear indication of the film being nothing more than a mediocre attempt dealing with an the important genre of bio-pics unfortunately. In other words, this is not anything even close to a realistic biographical movie, but a mere commercial project eyeing for a quick killing at the box office getting some instant attention and few claps here and there en-cashing the national spirit. For instance, one wonders why we always tend to go overboard with a filmy execution of all training sequences in such a film (along with a typical background song) and also what can you say about the vision followed in a sports movie when in one of its international fight sequences, a German coach hits his own reputed contestant in anger (on her head), while she is coming back to him after losing the bout. Moreover I strongly don't think the talented lady's real life had been as easy as depicted in the film with everything happening on its own without any major hassles or clashes.Giving the actual truth, I remember only one impressive scene in the entire film when Mary apologizes to the federation manager and then few good moments towards the end with another Bollywoodish kind of climax fight, ending with the national anthem being played at full length (asking people to get up from their seats) which ideally should have been avoided to end it on some different kind of inspiring cinematic note.In short, I deeply respect the exceptional & unbelievable kind of achievements made by the brave Indian sportswoman MARY KOM, both in her personal life as a mother and in the sports career as a boxer. But I am unable to praise this too plain & filmy biopic made on her extraordinary life in any of its department be it cinematography, background music, performances or direction, despite the earnest attempts made by Darshan Kumaar (as Mary's husband) and Priyanka Chopra (who again was a wrong choice made for the role, as predicted by many).Hence you can go for it as an informational film, to know more about the pride of our nation, the fearless MARY KOM, who is still ready to win many more fights in the next Olympics too. But not as any great inspiring biographical movie doing any kind of acceptable justice to the subject matter here, putting it honestly.

Mary Kom is a 2014 Indian biographical sports drama film directed by Omung Kumar and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film is a biopic about five-times female World Boxing Champion and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom, following her story from her childhood in India to her victory at the 2008 World Boxing Championships in Ningbo City. The story and screenplay were written by Saiwyn Quadras, who also suggested the storyline to Kumar for his directorial debut.The film stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead role as the boxer Mary Kom, with Darshan Kumar and Sunil Thapa supporting as her husband, Onler Kom and M. Narjit Singh respectively/Most of the movie is totally fictional,bearing no resemblance to reality and that too not portrayed properly,a huge disappointment...

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 2.5/5 starsMary Kom deserved better than this. As a sporting icon, as an Indian woman - the two traits this self-proclaimed biopic claims to overtly harp on, only to end up serving mediocre melodrama. Mary Kom absolutely needed to be more than a Bollywood load of tripe that manipulates so many realities of her life to turn her story into popcorn masala, highlighted by over-the-top histrionics coming from its heroine (in Bollywood, they inexplicably call it good acting). What's difficult to fathom is the filmmakers' reluctance to narrate Kom's story by adhering to facts through easily-accessibly data, or her written biography or inputs straight from the horse's mouth and those close to her. Makes you wonder what exactly the pugilist was doing on the sets.You would hope to get a better understanding of what defines MC Mary Kom - the person behind the passion – from the film. The litmus test for Omung Kumar perhaps did not lie in turning from set designing to film direction. It lay in comprehending the indomitable will to excel that has defined the aggression of Mary Kom as a boxing phenomenon - one who meteorically rose from an impoverished corner in Manipur to become India's reason for joy in the world of amateur boxing. Instead, Kumar, makes no effort to explore Mary Kom's inspirational persona, to understand the psyche behind the suffering, the struggle and, finally, the triumphs. Rather, the film takes an easy route. It bottles vignettes of her poverty, the early resistance coming from her father, her love life and marriage, motherhood and its ensuing sacrifice, and finally her comeback all into one pot-boiling cauldron to serve as a banal concoction of clichés, specifically tailored to appease sentiments of jingoism and superficial bravado, while presenting itself as casual box-office fare for stoking the fires of the underdog spirit. Its only aim is to make you laugh, cry, and feel proud as an Indian by turns. In short, Mary Kom is a neatly manipulated blend of plastic passions that masquerades as an inspirational biopic. In a way the film is smart commercial stuff masquerading as an underdog's tale. This is sad and inexcusable, considering the source material is actually one of the most triumphant underdog tales in recent times.The worst part of the film perhaps has to be its climax, a blatant ploy at manipulating viewer sentiments. The sequence mixes Mary's comeback fight after motherhood in the 2008 World Championship final in China with scenes of her baby's heart surgery happening in India, news that she receives mere minutes before her bout. Logic defies how and why the turn of actions in the ring should be in sync with the baby's health in the OT (every time Mary takes a hit, the baby's heart monitor graph also nearly flattens; when she finally triumphs in the match the doctors rush to announce the child is out of danger). This creates total confusion over which year the movie ends, since the filmmakers take the liberty of combining two events that happened three years apart. 2008 was the year Kom won her first gold at the World Championships, post the birth of her twins, against her great rival Steluta Duta of Romania (Sasha Podolski of Germany in the film) in Ningbo, China. It was only three years later that her son Nainai suffered from a problem with his heartbeat and had to undergo an operation for the same. The surgery was conducted only after Mary had returned from China after winning a gold at the Asia Cup, a tournament she entered having already known about Nainai's illness. Sure, cinematic leniency can be granted. But not to the extent where you blatantly distort facts and give two hoots for authenticity.The very Punjabi Priyanka tries her best to impress as Mary Kom, freckles on her face duly added by the make-up artist. Though she gets the physicality and body language of the part right, she completely fails to match it with the expressions, diction, ethos, and emotions of her character. However, the rest of the cast, especially Sunil Thapa, who play's Kom's coach, and Darshan Kumaar, Kom's husband, deserve credit for nailing their characters to the tee.The film looks at a whole lot of subtexts including women's empowerment and racism against Northeasterners, but does not really deal with them. There is a sense of over-the-top artificiality about everything in Mary Kom, the film. In the end, the film ticks off some of Mary Kom's career achievements and a few key personal struggles, but doesn't tell you much more about her as a person or her disposition than the innumerable headlines do.

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.