Cricket is like a religion in India. There are many cricket based films made in Bollywood. Lagaan and Iqbal are those rare films which have turned out to be Classics. Lagaan has been a landmark film in Indian Cinema. There have been many other films like M.S. Dhoni, 83, Kai Po Che, Azhar, Kaun Pravin Tambe, Jersey, Dil Bole Hadippa, Ferrari Ki Sawaari, Patiala House, The Zoya Factor, Shabaash Mithu, etc. based on cricket which have turned out to be good or average or crap. Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor’s latest cricket based romantic film Mr. & Mrs. Mahi joins the list of craps.
Mr. & Mrs. Mahi is a combination of all the negative cricketing terms like a misfield of emotions, golden duck, poor selection of shots, caught and bowled, stumped, bowled over by boredom, etc. This is a boring mashup of all the sports films which we have seen in the past a number of times. Love and cricket both get bowled out for a golden duck in this dull show full of clichés.
Mahendra aka Mahi (Rajkummar Rao) dreams to become a cricketer, but is failed and forced to join his father’s shop. Mahendra marries Mahima aka Mahi (Janhvi Kapoor), who is a doctor. Mahendra and Mahima have one thing in common and that is their love and passion for cricket. Mahendra is often labeled as a loser by his father and decides to challenge him by becoming famous. He then watches Mahima play cricket and decides to coach her. In this journey, Mahendra gets lost in his own personal benefits which leads to conflict between him and his wife. Will Mahendra rise to fame? Will Mahima become a cricketer? To get these answers, watch Mr. & Mrs. Mahi.
Rajkummar Rao is a wonderful actor and there’s no doubt about it. We have seen him playing many challenging characters in the past and in front of all those roles this was like a full toss delivery. He did not have to put extra power to hit the ball out of the park in Mr. & Mrs. Mahi. Janhvi Kapoor and acting doesn’t fit well in one sentence. How many runs can we expect a bowler to score? The same is the answer for Janhvi’s performance. Her dialogue delivery is very irritating and extremely pathetic. Janhvi was better in portions where she is seen playing cricket. The batting stance of Janhvi and her approach to the game of cricket is impressive. Kumud Mishra is a complete riot and scores a boundary on every delivery. Zarina Wahab is totally wasted. She doesn’t get much strike, and this is the reason for her scoring less runs. Rest of the players (actors) have done nothing impressive.
The direction of Sharan Sharma is outdated. Looks like Sharan is dismissed for a golden duck. The direction is very loose and full of loopholes. The director has made a TV serial out of Mr. & Mrs. Mahi by making it over dramatic.
The screenplay is very boring and dull. The film needed a minimum trimming of 25 minutes. The last 30 minutes are unnecessarily stretched by dramatic BGM and slow motion scenes. The screenplay gives the vibes of watching a TV serial, as it has some stupid twists happening after every 15 to 20 minutes.
The music of the film is strictly average. Dekhha Tenu is the best track of the film and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham deserves full credit for it. The makers have not added the complete track of Dekhha Tenu and have left it incomplete. The remaining tracks are situational and easily passable.
The color grading looks cheap and looks dim. The cameraman has tried to present the same shots of Janhvi again and again. It’s the poor selection of shots (story) by the writers, which has led to a big letdown.
Mr. & Mrs. Mahi follows the old school film-making. The film is completely predictable from the first scene itself. If one has seen the trailer of the film, there is no need to watch the whole film. The film has the same old story where a husband fails to achieve his dream, convinces his wife to pursue that dream. When her wife becomes successful, husband feels jealous of her and this leads to conflicts between them. At the end, the husband realizes his mistake and they achieve the dream. The film has the same old conflicts and story which we have witnessed over the years in many films and TV serials.
Mr. & Mrs. Mahi offers nothing new to the audience. It’s like a batsman missing the chance of hitting a boundary on a full toss delivery or a bowler getting hit on a yorker delivery. Mr. & Mrs. Mahi is like that one sided boring match which should be skipped at any cost. Watch it only if you want to get clean bowled by boredom.
Rating – 2/5*
