Verdict - Mary Kom - Magnificent; Mary Kom The Movie - Materialistic! Just a one-time DVD watch!
The tale of magnificent Mary ought to be told, but definitely not in the manner told by Umung Kumar & group. I know that not every biopic is a Paan Singh Tomar or a Bhaag Milkha Bhaag but Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom aka MC Mary Kom's amazing journey certainly deserves much better a movie than this. Even Priyanka's brilliant efforts are not enough to save the sloppy screenplay.
The movie starts off with a pregnant Mary Kom (Priyanka Chopra) groaning with labor pains and her ever-supportive and sensible (except in the climax) husband Onler trying to find a way out of the insurgency warfare to make her reach the hospital. Cut to 1991, the Mary Kom childhood is shown where she finds a boxing glove and dreams of becoming a boxer one day. Cut to 2000, she is all grown-up and while beating the hell out of a fellow schoolboy (don't really know why), she lands up in the nearby town (don't really know how) where she finds Coach Singh & his boxing academy and so begins her journey from Chungneijang to Champion Mary Kom which is full of obstacles(#DisapprovingPapa/# BeingaGirl/#NorthEast-IdentityCrisis/#SystemPolitics).
Omung Kumar took his directorial debut too seriously perhaps. He was asked to make a film and he did just that mixing up all the typical filmy cliches be it family melodrama, random preachy moments or a overdramatic climax. The 'Film' has it all but lacks the soulfulness and the authenticity of the epic that could have been. Editing was clumsy and the story was moving so random that it was hard for viewers to connect to Mary.
The background score and the music are not so impressive either. Though the song Ziddi Dil perfectly suits the boxer's passion for the sport, other songs are just above average.
On one hand there are a few witty dialogues like "Ye boxing gloves tumhari pehli kamaai hai, dil ke khol ke kharch karna", While on the other you have to tolerate some shitty dialogues too -"Apni sweetness kum karo nahin toh diabetes ho jayega".
Priyanka Chopra carries the whole movie on her shoulders. It is definitely one of her career best performances and she proves yet again that you can never write her off. She has really worked very hard for this one. Debutant Darshan Kumar is average. Sunil Thapa , the coach looked constipated at times carrying off a single expression all throughout the film. Even rest of the cast didn't prove to be so appealing.
I would give the movie an extra star because at least someone had to courage to make a biopic about this great Indian legend called "Mary Kom". But I'll take it back (the star) because it's "Mary Kom" you are dealing with, and you just can't do shit.
We all might be wondering how much Priyanka Chopra had to go through for this, just imagine about M.C. Mary Kom - The Five Time World Champion. Just Imagine!