'Mr & Mrs Mahi' movie review: Mr and Mrs Blah

A still from Mr & Mrs Mahi

Mr & Mrs Mahi
U/A: Sports, romance
Dir: Sharan Sharma
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor
Rating: 2/5

Beyond the spectrum of films one loves and hates, lies a field of movies one is indifferent to. Mr & Mrs Mahi is found in that category. The Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor-starrer leaves you speechless, not because you are at a loss for words after the experience, but simply because you have nothing to say about it.
Directed by Sharan Sharma of Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020) fame, Mr & Mrs Mahi is about the story of Mahendra (Rao) and Mahima (Kapoor), who not only share their pet names, but also their love for cricket. While Mahima briefly dreamt of becoming a cricketer as a child, the only reality Mahendra knew was cricket. She is now a doctor, while he works at his father's shop that sells cricket gears after failing to fulfil his ambition. Mahima's entry in his life not only reminds him of the happiness that his failed experience took away, but it also offers him an opportunity to give cricket another chance, even if it is in a new role. Seeing Mahima smashing sixes on the field that used to be his training ground, Mahendra is convinced she is made to be a cricketer and he, her coach. Life then throws curveballs at the couple to test their perseverance.

The film's noble intentions are let down by an insipid screenplay (Sharma and Nikhil Mehrotra) and uninspiring direction. For a film that has lofty ambitions, it hardly ever rises above sincerity. For a story that eventually tells you to prioritise inner happiness over outside validation, Mr & Mrs Mahi is joyless from start to end. The movie is so burdened by the misery of its Mr and meekness of its Mrs that rather than helping them break free, it gets trapped in their gloom. It's an irony that for a film that has cricket at its centre, there's not an iota of energy in its performances, writing, or the way it is shot. Of course, Rao is dependable and endearing, like he is in any other film. But he seems to have surrendered to the film's dullness, resulting in an easily forgettable act. Kapoor lowers the film's energy even further. As a docile woman, who doesn't know what she wants until her husband enlightens her, Kapoor is a mere repetition of all that one has seen of her in the recent past. There's an innate lethargy in her dialogue delivery that conveys nothing but lack of interest in the character she is playing. In Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Good Luck Jerry (2022), Mili (2022) and Bawaal (2023), Kapoor made admirable use of her physicality to convey vulnerability. Puppy eyes, quivering lips, and the seemingly fragile appearance worked as tools of deception for her characters' inner strength. But in Mr & Mrs Mahi, the same comes across as crutches to overcome limited talent. Their chemistry is endearing, but not enough to make one root for them. The fault appears to be in the writing, which fails to establish Kapoor's character as anything other than a cricket-fanatic. While Rao's Mahi gets a back story, a conflict, and a resolution, the other Mahi is only a catalyst in his journey and left to pull some wonderful cricketing shots.

Sharma, who made an assured debut with Gunjan Saxena, seems neither in command of the romance, which lights up only in a montage song, nor cricket, which comes across as spiritless. Every scene feels longer than it should, lacking any vigour. Even the emotional conflict between the couple seems half-baked, where the writers attempt to delve deeper into their dynamics but quit just after scratching the surface.

In a scene, Rao's former coach calls him an "average cricketer, whose biggest flaw was his timing". Sadly, the description aptly fits Mr & Mrs Mahi. It's an average film that fires too slow, too late.