Review: Meerabai Not Out

This is a wannabe Hrishikesh movie with a touch of Guddi. If Jaya was nuts about Dharmendra once, here Mandira is apricots about Kumble, writes Khalid Mohamed. See 1| 2

Bowled! Catch out, run out! This is a wannabe Hrishikesh Mukherji movie, a kind of a Guddi 2008ish.. If Jaya Bhaduri was nuts about Dharmendra once, here Mandira Bedi is apricots about Anil Kumble. See |

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Cute? Could have been but Chandrakant Kulkarni’s Meerabai Not Out (says who?) is so gaga about its bai that the camera keeps following Mandira Bedi like Mary’s little lamb. Bleat. She’s a great schoolteacher, she’s a great daughter to a middle class family, she’s such a great fan of Kumble that when she thinks of her, he hic-hic-hiccups. No wonder, we’ve lost some serious matches.

Next: Since, she’s no longer a spring chicken, she’s being coaxed into an arranged marriage. Enter a doctor of hearts (Ejaz Khan who discos with her in the credit titles). She loves him, he ditto. Doc’s Dad Anupam Kher says he loves modaks. And then, gasp, Meerabai toodles off to a test match on the day of her engagement and returns very very late with a teeny weenie bandage on her forehead. She was injured in a stampede, not by a Kumble sixer. Sad.

Engagement-marriage-honeymoon, all cancelled. Meerabai cries, we cry, Kumble doesn’t hiccup any more and still we lose test matches. More: Meerabai is no longer mistaken for TV commentator Mandira Bedi (unfunny in-joke). Honestly, how you wait to see those marriage modaks back on the plate. Do you luck out?

That depends on how many calories you’re willing to swallow in two hours. On the upside, count a striking performance by Mahesh Manjrekar as Meerabai’s bhai, and a pleasant debut by Ejaz Khan. To see or not to see? Umm, it’s certainly not a must-catch.