Mary Kom….How many unsung heroes of sports get lost in our country, few among them rise up to show the entire world they exist, one among them is our “Magnificent Mary a.k.a Mary Kom” who not only proved that she is a great asset to the country but also a wonderful mother and a wife. She became an inspiration to her entire village, who wholeheartedly supported in all her endeavors.

Bollywood is high on women power this year with “QUEEN” then “Mardaani” and now “Mary Kom”.This biopic directed by debutante Omung Kumar surprises everyone with his penchant for story telling in a short span of 124 mins, now that’s talent. Narrating someone’s life in that short span have always ended badly. In this case, it was handled decent enough to bring in the feel. I agree a longer movie would have explored the character more as Mary Kom, but what is shown here was convincing enough. Omung’s direction was well matched with the dialogue writers Karan Singh Rathore & Ramendra Vasishth, few of them were thought provoking and inspiring, which caught up to Saiwyn Quadras fast screenplay.

Omung did a great job in the casting department, the characters were picked well and they were not acting in fact living them. Sunil Thapa as the boxing coach was great, he makes a big place in your heart, he may not be Clint Eastwood but sure a great Narjit Singh. Another actor who took everyone by surprise was Darshan Kumar as Onler Kom, his character was portrayed in a very subtle way and was handled delicately with great emotions. That character wins everyone with his utmost kindness and support towards his loving wife Mary Kom. With this movie we got 2 great north east actors who we would love to see in future Bollywood. The rest of the supporting cast was apt with their respective roles.

The star of the movie Priyanka Chopra as Mary Kom did a remarkable job. It shows all over the movie, she have put in her blood and sweat to make this one right, she proved herself in “Barfi” now there is no doubt that she is a versatile actress. She have literally lived MARY KOM, every detail right from the freckles to the body type to the attitude, she have trained herself to the extent which makes her character so convincing that you start seeing her as MC Mary. This role is going to be a career defining one for her, which she will have tough time matching up to. Priyanka Chopra stands proud as Mary Kom.

The technical crew did a tremendous job, cinematography by Keiko Nakahara was tightly shot matching up to Rob Miller’s action choreography, that was perfectly edited by the duo Rajesh G. Pandey & Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The score of the movie was by Shashi Shivamm who did a tremendous job in matching up to every mood of the flick “Ziddi Dil”, “Sukoon Mila” and “Salaam India” are my favorites, Salaam India is a very inspirational one so is Ziddi Dil.

We hardly get to see movies based on sports, this genre is something which packs in all the emotions together. Omung did a great job with this biopic by giving it a commercial treatment to match the mass audience. Priyanka’s on screen character transforms totally in to the real life personality of Mary Kom. The boxing scenes were quite underplayed could have shown more action giving the edge of seat experience, it may not be the best biopic to honor the legendary Mary Kom, but a good tribute to the person who won among all odds and became a world champion. It was a good touch in the end with the National Anthem which showed some unity inside the cinema hall, the moment it came on screen. Definitely worth a watch for Priyanka’s Knock-out dedication!!!

+’ – Neat direction with Outstanding performances.

-‘s – Underplayed boxing sequences.

Rating: 4/5.