Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Darshan Kumar, Sunil Thapa, Rajni Basumatary
Directed by Omung Kumar
Rating: ***
Every Indian, or for that matter any sports film, has some essential tropes and arcs in common—the underdog coming out triumphant against all odds, snatching victory from near defeat, going from disgrace to redemption, fighting the circumstances as well as corrupt officialdom. Mary Kom adds two more layers to it. One is that of gender—how love, marriage and children need not come in the way of any sportswoman’s success. The other is political: how the much-neglected Northeast, specifically strife-torn Manipur, is as patriotic as any other state when it comes to playing for India and seeing the tricolour fly high. What is also implicit is that however much it may have given to the Indian sports, it hasn’t been...
