3.5/5
Who’s Mithali Raj? Ask even cricket crazy people and you’ll draw a blank. For the uninitiated, Mithali is the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket. She’s the only female cricketer to surpass the 7,000 run mark in women’s one-day international matches. She also holds the record for most half-centuries in WODIs. She became the first player from India, male or female, to score 2000 runs in T20Is, and was India’s captain from 2004 to 2022. She completed 20 years in international cricket in 2019. Aren’t these statistics mind-boggling? Sadly, the masses remain ignorant of her achievements.
But do numbers by themselves tell the complete story? Every sportsperson has come up through sheer grit and determination. And if he is Indian, then the struggle goes up ten fold. And multiply that by 100 if she’s an Indian female athlete. Because of a complete lack of infrastructure, abysmal training and nutrition, and a lack of basic necessities are a given. So when you see Mithali (Taapsee Pannu) and her teammates squatting in the fields to answer nature’s call, you begin to understand their difficulties. Director Srijit Mukherji has filled his film with many images that highlight the chasm that exists between male and female cricketers. Mithali and the team are asked to shed excess luggage, comprising winter clothing, on their first England tour, as their male counterparts jaunt royally in through a special corridor, with chants of India, India accompanying them. A fan hands Mithali her phone as she wants a click with a popular male cricketer. And worse, the cricket board has no money for their uniforms, so they’re given extra uniforms of the male cricketers. The lack of proper funding is tied to a lack of sponsors. And yet, despite all this, they managed to reach the finals of the 2017 Women’s World Cup and lost by the barest of margins. It’s no mean feat, to say the least.
Friction lies in any group, and Srijit has made sure we see that side as well. Mithali’s initiation into the Indian team is brutal. She has menstrual cramps and has to face a swarm of bowlers on the nets who are doing their best to break her spirit. Her technique helps her win the respect of her teammates. Rather than picking up a fight, she answers them on the field through her actions and later is shown to form a bond with them.
Every prodigy needs a mentor, and her coach, Sampath (Vijay Raaz), is shown in the film to be the friend, philosopher and guide in her life. He inculcated a yen for discipline in her since childhood and made sure her technique was perfect. His best advice was that, while in the field, you just play your natural game and forget about everything else. Perhaps the most poignant scene in the scene is where, even after learning of his death, Mithali still manages to score a century. Another person she’s shown to be close to is Noorie (Anushree Kushwaha). Noorie, too, was a talented cricketer, but was married off just when she was on the cusp of being selected for India. She remains a constant in Mithali’s life and stands for millions of girls who had to give up their dreams because of circumstances. Everyone who chooses to live by his or her beliefs finds life rough going when they aren’t accepted by their family. While Mithali’s parents are shown to be supportive of her, her elder brother, a budding cricketer himself, is shown to be resentful of her success. She overcomes another emotional milestone when he finally becomes a fan and takes pride in her achievement.
Srijit Mukherji should sincerely give thought to directing a children’s film, as the initial portions, chronicling the adventures of a young Mithali (Inayat Verma) and young Noorie (Kasturi Jagnam), are a delight to watch. One could watch an entire film on them without getting bored. They take you back to your own childhood and make you rue the loss of innocence. An innocence that gets shattered when the two girls grow up.
The main problem for the viewers watching the cricket portions of Mithali and her team’s exploits is that, in all probability, he didn’t watch them on TV when they actually took place. So there’s no connection to be made as there’s no recall value. After a while, they get repetitive. Then, Mithali was the captain of the Indian team for the longest time and must have had tassels with other senior members, all of which are glossed over. The film says and does all the right things. For aeons, women have been conditioned to become homemakers. They fought for the right to work alongside men for years, and while working women have become the norm, their foray into sports is still frowned upon. They also need an audience, a fan following, and maybe this film will help find one for them.
The film rests on Taapsee’s able shoulders, and she has given her all to the cause. Her cricketing stance, her poise, and her shot selection look natural. And she makes you feel like it’s Mithali’s inner struggles you’re watching when she breaks down. It’s a straight-from-the-heart performance, and she should be lauded for her sincerity and commitment.
Trailer : Shabaash Mithu
Rachana Dubey, July 15, 2022, 4:11 AM IST
3.0/5
Shabaash Mithu Story: Mithali Dorai Raj, born to a Tamil family in Hyderabad, accidentally finds her way into cricket at a young age, thanks to a friend, Noorie. Gradually, even as she steps in to captain Team India at an early stage of her career, she faces numerous hurdles before putting women-in-blue into the spotlight.
Shabaash Mithu Review: Srijit Mukherji’s Shabaash Mithu, within the first few minutes of its runtime, tries to hold your hand and pull you deep inside the life that Mithali Raj has led. The story goes from little Mithali being a Bharatnatyam dancer to a cricketer, and eventually emerging as one of our country’s youngest players to represent India internationally in a sport, dominated by the male counterparts.
At every stage throughout its runtime, the movie proactively tries to highlight the underlying sentiment that the team must have felt – from being belittled to being denied equal opportunities, and the fight that Mithali put up for various such issues. The film gradually blends Mithali’s own journey in cricket with that of the women’s national team fighting for its spot under the sun. It’s an emotional underdog story, minus the jingoistic tropes and chest-thumping moments.
Taapsee Pannu makes a great effort to internalise Mithali Raj as a person. The highlight of her performance is that she doesn’t mimic the cricketer, but she sets her foot into her shoes, absorbs and displays the sentiments that Mithali has possibly felt at every juncture in her life. And she does that without the support of any hefty dialoguebaazi. She also seems at ease when she is on field playing out the cricket portions. Minus the archival footage, the cricket portions have been choreographed well, though one would have loved to see more of that. Subtle humour has been used in parts of the film which helps the narrative. The dialogues have been kept in sync with the tonality and the approach of the film. Taapsee’s monologue in the climax, somehow, reminds one of Shah Rukh Khan’s Sattar-Minute monologue from Chak De! India. Another plus are the two child actors, Inayat Verma and Kasturi Jagnam, who are quite pleasant to watch.
It’s one thing when a film has a lengthy runtime, and another when a film feels longer than its runtime. In this case, it’s the latter. Shabaash Mithu feels like it’s been going on for way longer than its actual runtime, which is under three hours. The songs in the film barely contribute towards enhancing the narrative; in fact, they further slow down the pace. While it’s understandable that the central subject of the film is known to be a less expressive person, nothing stops the screenplay from being crafted with a little more enthusiasm and spunk.
Another aspect that really needed more attention was the way the other important characters are crafted – they could have contributed largely to bring out more layers and nuances in Mithali’s personal and professional journey. The movie doesn’t amply showcase those edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting moments that would have unfolded in her life, especially during the 2017 world cup. Those keenly waiting to finally watch a movie revolving around Mithali, one of women’s cricket’s most iconic contemporary players, will certainly be left asking for more. Maybe a rerun of one of her milestone matches will help.
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