REVIEW: Meerabai Not Out
Who wants to watch a Mandira Bedi covered from head to toe? Not many! That too in her first full fledged role in a mainstream Hindi film after her super successful XXXtra Innings avatar. And the movie is also about cricket.
Who wants to watch Eijaz Khan – he dances well and hits the gym with a vengeance (it seems) on the big screen opposite her? Maybe a few who loved the actor on television.
And who wants to watch Kumble hiccupping? Hmmmm lets see…
The drool factor in this PNC film which probably should have released long back is decidedly not much to talk about. So the only saving grace in this film has to be the storyline, except for the fact that, it isn't.
Director Chandrakant Kulkarni has tried so hard to make this film look realistic that it has ended up looking nothing like a movie. Let me explain – the characters Meera Achrekar (Mandira Bedi), her brother Manoj (Mahesh Manjrekar) and her entire family look like your next-door neighbours. And the movie is about their everyday life. And by that I mean the mundane everyday life without any twist or turn that a tale demands. Brilliant concept! But so not a movie! (Could have been a documentary, maybe?)
Movies on normal everyday, next door neighbour like characters have really done well in the recent past (eg Dasvidaniya) but there has always been a touching tale or something different that makes the movie exciting. Meerabai Not Out somehow fails to achieve that. Though the main protagonist played by Mandira Bedi is definitely an unconventional; character, the story fails to explore that 'differentness' in her too well.
Our heroine Meera can't think beyond cricket and one cricketer in particular – Anil Kumble. A math teacher in a Hindi medium school somewhere in Dadar (Mumbai), Meera comes across as just another cricket crazy person in a country where people build temples and hold pujas and yagnas for cricketers and cricket matches. The only anomaly could be her being a female.
Just how crazy is crazy… or just how mad is this Meera Achrekar about cricket we never get a feel of. She holds protest marches and fights with people trying to black match tickets outside a stadium and though both instances look crazy they don't feel the same. As a viewer, we still feel that Meera is just another girl who's a little in love with Anil Kumble…like Meera Vasudevan in Rules Pyaar Ke Superhit Formula.
NEXT: Why does Mandira Bedi look like herself?
Mandira bedi acted really well in the movie,anupam kher and
mahesh manjerekar were flawless and eijaz khan too did play
his role with a charm ,the movie might have lacked the
punch of humour,but the middle class lifestyle was
brilliantly depicted by chandrakant kulkarni,the movie has
quite a realistic approach..Must watch for mumbaikars for
whom cricket is a religion.
Meerabai not out is a simple and sweet: there is an amount
of simplicity and ease throughout the movie. It's tried to
bring out the cricket fanatic in us. Ejaz and mandira have
really acted well and there doesn't seem to be a dull moment
in the movie. The beginning track, "hai rama"
itself looks nice and makes us want to watch the movie. I
would also like to add that the acting skills of all the
actors right from the little kid to ejaz have been in sync.
Overall i liked the movie for its freshness and a different
theme, which is offbeat from the usual.
I watched meerabi not out and loved it. It is light, comedy,
clean fun. The romance between mandira and ejaz is so fresh
and fun. The whole concept of cricket, love and fun is built
up nicely.
one movie you can watch with your family feel happy and
come out.
with lack of good movies nowadays meerabai not
out is definetely worth a watch