Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Star Cast/ Actors: Rajkummar Rao as Mahendra Mahi Aggarwal, Janhvi Kapoor as Rajkummar Rao’s wife Mahima Mahi Aggarwal, Kumud Mishra as Mahendra’s father, Rajesh Sharma as coach, Abhishek Banerjee, Purnendu Bhattacharya, Zarina Wahab as Mahi’s mother Geeta Aggarwal & Arjit Taneja as as Sikander Agarwal.
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Director: Sharan Sharma
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Release Date: May 31, 2024
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Available On: Theatrical Release and (likely to be released on OTT Platform Netflix)
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Runtime: 139 Minutes
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Critic Review:
In a world where there’s pressure to gather ‘Likes’ and ‘Followers’ on social media, it’s
understandable when an unsuccessful cricketer whose dreams have been thwarted, thirsts for attention. Rejected by the selectors, Mahendra Agarwal (Rajkummar Rao) has to reluctantly mind the family sports store along with his father (Kumud Mishra),
It’s an interesting premise that writer-director Sharan Sharma and writing mate Nikhil
Mehrotra set out with: a frustrated, wannabe cricketer coaching his gifted wife to make her dreams come true.
So far, so good, and you get ready to watch an exciting match. However, the marriage of Mahi and Dr Mahima (Jahnvi Kapoor) begins to lose wickets after the first few overs.
There’s a jerkiness in the storytelling. Mahima is abruptly introduced as a big cricket freak, as knowledgeable about the game as her husband. Nowhere in their pre-marriage meetings is there even a hint of it, as if it’s a secret tucked away. The next moment, Mahi, the female one, is suddenly shown to be a reluctant doctor, as disgruntled about her job as he is about the family store.
When the protagonists show a modicum of integrity and sincerity, the viewer normally
sympathises with their stumbles. But Mahima is so disconnected with her profession that she even fills an injection with the wrong dose for the patient. And he is so full of inconsistencies that it’s hard to relate to him.
In the opening sequence, Mahendra is shown playing dirty with a teammate just to get the strike and catch the selectors’ eye. But he’s the epitome of honesty when he tells Mahima exactly where he stands in life, he’s mature enough not to start his marriage on a falsehood. It’s a bit incongruous with the selfish batsman who’s no team player and is immaturely unhelpful on the home front.
When he coaches her with much success, the suddenness of his resentment against her fame, which does not build up or reveal itself gradually, is like pushing in the Abhimaan syndrome (the Amitabh-Jaya starrer that portrayed a husband jealous of his wife’s success).
The inconsistencies keep building up.
She was introduced as someone who knows the nuances of the game just as knowledgably as him. But she looks up to him like he’s the ultimate expert and she’s a clueless novice.
She’s a trained doctor, a today’s girl who decides who she’ll marry. She’s not an illiterate Rabri Devi on the hot seat. But she looks like a frightened deer, like she’s been thrown into the deep end, when she gets selected and has to attend a press conference.
To go back to him, why does he hanker for the kind of attention that coaches don’t attract? As his own coach (Rajesh Sharma) later tells him, people look at the kite (ie, the player), not at the dor (the coach).
Besides, there were other players also selected. When none of their coaches turned into prime-time celebrities, why would he unrealistically want centerstage?
When he turns into a worm, she’s again shown out of depth and helpless. She knows the game as well as he does, there are other mentors too (like his former coach). But she’s clingy-dependent on him.
She’s given an unexpected spark of independence when she tells him to buzz off, she
doesn’t need him. But that’s not followed by any tangible action to help ace her game.
Thus, although you do see Sharan wanting to take a contemporary look at a husband-and-wife equation, the narration doesn’t do justice to today’s gender equality.
It is also packed with half-baked characters. A brother is abruptly brought in like he’s some big dude, probably only to establish that social media fame comes with its own insecurities. That too isn’t shown but is referred to by Mahi’s mother (Zarina Wahab). Like many Karan Johar films, the mother gets one scene, one dialogue which changes the tide. Like Jaya Bachchan in the ‘Bas, bol diya’ scene in K3G and Tanvi Azmi advising Ranbir to do what his heart tells him in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Zarina Wahab steps in to dispense wisdom on happiness without expectation. One dialogue that makes Mahi do another abrupt about-turn, clearing the clouds in his foggy mind to understand that happiness is in the game and not in ephemeral fame.
There are also unexcitingly picturised matches, usual father-son taunts and mandatory
training sequences with a background song.
Though both Rajkummar Rao and Jahnvi Kapoor are competent actors, he does not look convincing enough to pull off a young man still daydreaming, still irresponsible. And she’s too wide-eyed all the time.
What started off as a well-intentioned match ultimately doesn’t play out well.
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi – Watch Or Not?: You can catch this match on OTT.
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Review Score Rating: 2 out of 5 (i.e. 2/5)
Mr.& Mrs. Mahi Official Trailer:
Also Read:Kartam Bhugtam Movie Review: Slippery Fakery
