Mr & Mrs Mahi Movie Review: There is a scene in the first half of Janhvi Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao starrer ‘Mr & Mrs Mahi’, where Mahima (Janhvi) sneaks out of her room on her wedding night to watch a cricket match. This paritcular scene gave me hope that the film would give us a perspective about a woman’s love for a man’s game. However, it branched out into a different film altogether and left me disappointed.
Directed by Sharan Sharma, Mr & Mrs Mahi revolves around a couple who loves cricket. Set in Jaipur, Mahendra aka Mahi (Rajkummar) and Mahima aka Mahi (Janhvi) met through an arrange marriage set up. While Mahima is an established doctor, Mahendra is a failed cricketer who is forced to work in his father’s sports goods store. An unhappy man, Mahendra falls in love with Mahima and they get married. After their wedding, Mahendra finds out that she loves cricket as much as he does.
Mahima then urges him to return to the game. She encourages him to give playing for the state another shot. However, he fails in his second attempt too and his mentor asks him to rather consider a career in coaching. Hurt by his advice, Mahendra battles his inner turmoil. That’s when he sees Mahima’s cricketing skills and decides to coach her. She gives up her career as a doctor and follows Mahendra’s vision.
After vigorous training, she cracks a spot in the state team and advances her way through it all. However, her growth puts Mahendra in the shadows. With no due given to him, he starts to seek fame through different mediums — Instagram Reels, radio, and even TV. But nothing works in his favour, leaving him frustrated. Eventually, he becomes bitter and ends up affecting Mahima’s game.
Sports-themed movies usually come with a hint of hope throughout the film, making you root for the lead characters. Unfortunately, Mr & Mrs Mahi doesn’t let you root for either of the lead cast members. Written by Nikhil Mehrotra and Sharan Sharma, the film feels gloomy. Understandably exploring the insecurities and failure of Mahendra, the screenplay gives fleeting moments of happiness. As a result, most parts of the film make you feel dejected. The second half also felt similar to Abhimaan, the 1973 Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan (at the time Jaya Bhaduri) film. Although the set up and themes are different, the characterisation curve of Mahendra in the second half brought back memories of the Hrishikesh Mukherjee film.
The script and screenplay also tells Mahima’s story from Mahendra’s perspective, thus limiting her to how he perceives her and not giving Janhvi enough room to sink her teeth into the character. The film also touches upon the emotion of ‘Abba nahi manege’. To much relief, those scenes landed well.
What was shocking though about the screenplay is that it has limited cricket moments. While Mahima is seen hitting the balls into the stands to score sixes and fours, we don’t see her participate in the fielding or any other aspect of the game. The lack of such moments impacted the high that a sports film usually give. This also resulted in the film becoming linear.
While the writing lacks the depth, Sharan, Janhvi and Rajkummar make up for it. The film is packaged well, with Sharan adding all the right elements of a trademark Dharma film making it a visually appealing film. He also falls back on the refreshing music album which works well in his favour.
Sharan also benefits from his leading stars, who follow his vision seamlessly. Janhvi imbibes the role of a cricketer well. In the cricketing scenes, her training to ace the persona is evident. She also brings a breath of fresh air every time the film gets a little gloomy.
Rajkummar as the dejected Mahendra steals the show. He carries the film on his shoulder in most parts. The scenes in which he embraces the grey side of his character proves he is a great fit for the role. A big shout out to Kumud Mishra for his performance as Mahendra’s father.
Bottom Line: Mr & Mrs Mahi is not a bad film but it isn’t a great film either. Consider it was marketed as a sports-themed film, the film needed a few high moments of a sports drama to truly allow viewers to resonate with the characters and their struggles. I would recommend watching Mr & Mrs Mahi for the performances, music and cinematography.
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