Review- MARY KOM

MARY KOM:
First things first... it's (as the name suggests) the story of a champion boxer from India... who truly rose like a phoenix, battling several odds, fighting all hurdles to make her nation proud... she is someone who sure is an inspiration to all, with a story worth to be told... and known!
And she is ably portrayed by the versatile Ms.Chopra... who shuns all the glitz, glamor and sex appeal that comes naturally to her, and acts her heart out in one of her career best performances... she looks raw, and the blemishes added to her perfect face does not come anywhere close to the physical transformation she has brought about in herself for the role... her fitness, agility and ability has to be seen to be believed! and manages to make all her preparations, homework and dedication look effortless and believable... she does not fail to impress even in parts where the script wavers and falters...
The supporting cast are tremendous in their roles, too...
Sunil Thapa as her revered coach, fits his role perfectly, and leaves his mark behind although he's under-utilized in quite a few parts... and Darshan Kumaar as Onler Kom has a pleasantness in the way he looks and acts, something that lifts up his character to another level...
The evil-ish Mr.Sharma is fab, too... the rest of the cast have little to do, but the one who plays Tonpa, Mary's father stands out in his small role...
Mary's is a story that would have made for an inspiring movie, and the makers do get it right to an extent... the screenplay is decent, the lines good, with an occasional one-liner...
But the real problem in here is in the direction and the editing...  the editing is largely faulty... the movie is too non-linear in the first half, sometimes unnecessarily... the movie moves back in forth a bit too often, which does not really add up... and is also over-edited at places...
The direction is flawed... maybe the subject was too heavy for a first attempt... and the director largely glosses over as many aspects in her life as possible, eventually leaving almost all of them under-detailed and superficial...
Though it starts out on a positive note, and you connect to Mary in her initial phases, I lost the connect midway.. there are just too many events in too little time... some of them, like the problems they face when she is about to deliver, and she trying to get a decent job under her sports quota, are strong, but don't really fit in...
And there is way too much drama in a biopic... one should here understand the difference of making a movie about a real story and making a movie out of a real story... the former keeps it real, while the latter comes with cinematic adulteration that dilutes the impact of a real story... sadly, this one tends towards the latter...
Mary is, no doubt a superhero in her own right... but she has had her share of struggles... and failures... but the makers try portraying her as a comic-book superhero, who wins gold all along... and do not really try to highlight her silver and bronze victories... and her struggle, especially during her comeback, should have been more organic...
Be it her first world championship, or the climactic comeback, her combat intercut with personal turmoil is an unnecessary overdose of melodrama, and divides the focus from her boxing, which should have ideally been the highlight...
Also, some inconsistencies... like Mr.Sharma's dislike towards Mary Kom... you initially lead to think he is not in favor of women as athletes, until, in the second half, Mary forces in the angle of his bias towards girls from Manipur, which is left unclear all till the end...
The climax, too comes in as abrupt... a point when not many in the audience would have expected the movie to end...
Technically, the movie is brilliant, with the director Omung Kumar himself being a famed art director, with a vibrant, agile and perfect cinematography... the music is decent, and background score good...
All in all, a good attempt to showcase the life of a living legend... topped by some fabulous performances, but a somewhat wavering storyline and direction... 

EK VILLAIN

A hero... a heroine... a villain... a murder... a revenge... sounds stereotypical? Thankfully this is NOT what the movie is all about... it's about how life comes a full circle... how a villain's life is toppled by another villain, and the cumulative culmination of their tales... a scarily parallel tale of two love stories... two individuals, their respective princesses, their relationships, the complications in their lives, and their ways of dealing with the same...
As mentioned before, the story has not one, but two villains... then what about the hero, you may ask! Well, the story is the hero here... a taut, crisp narrative conceived and executed in the best way, the tension and emotions enhanced a hundred times over by the non-linear pattern of the narrative... one act flows into the other like water, not letting you take off your eyes or distract your mind for one split-second, the movie keeps you engaged to the very end, and is consistently well edited- keeping it slow enough to comprehend and feel for, and fast enough not to let it drag (a total screentime of 2h 7min) and leaves you with a beautiful ending, although slightly predictable, but entirely satisfying...
The romance is tender, the violence brutal and emotions palpable... there is also a good amount of humor, sometimes at unexpected junctures, which only add to it's merit... here I must appreciate the fact that the violence is chilling but never gory, there's minimal bloodshed and a good part of it is symbolic...
The direction is top-notch, and Mohit Suri is in full control of the proceedings... he knows what exactly he's upto and that shows on screen... not a single visual is wasted... and the lines show the flair this story requires... the characters are all well-etched and strongly detailed...
The ENTIRE cast is in it's best form, with Siddharth and Riteish getting the best roles, who do more than full justice to themselves and the story... Siddharth's built complements his Guru, his eyes intense and vulnerable and body language believable... he brinngs out the complexities of his role with enormous clarity... for instance, that particular fight sequence when he's least bothered in bashing up the hundred goons that come his way, and is only focused on getting the answer that he wants... brilliant!
Riteish makes for the perfect choice to play Rakesh, and is eeriely crazy and scary... his eyes are consistently cold, except for when he looks at his wife, and portrays the multitude of layers that his role has with effortless ease... trust me, a killer with a stupid and straight face is atleast a thousand times more frightening than a one with a scary face ( remember Bob Biswas of Kahaani?)
Shraddha shines in parts... she does almost full justice to her role, except for the few moments when her suitably modulated and emotive voice isn't really complimented by facial expressions... but surely has come a long way from the plastic princess that she was in Aashiqui 2...
Aamna Sharif does a fab job, and gets into the skin of her character... an unexpected helping of Kamaal R. Khan might leave you anywhere from amused to irritated depending on your liking to him, and plays a role that looks quite relatable to his real life persona... the rest of the supporting cast are excellent, too!
There are only few things not-so-good in the otherwise flawless tale... there are a few liberties the director takes, but are not too noteworthy... one thing that amused me or distracted me rather, was that I really don't see any regular middle class woman to be styling her hair in the most fashionable dos on an everyday basis, even if she is Aamna Sharif...
These apart, everything else fall perfectly into place... and is as dark and engaging as lucid and feel good it is, and is an interesting thriller, with an interesting story, a lot of twists and turns, and great acting and direction!
Two thumbs up for this one!