Mr & Mrs Mahi Review: Team Rajkummar, Jahnvi Click; Plot Slumps in Last Run
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“I’m a salesman, and you’re a defective piece, let me sell things my way.”
Imagine your father calling you a ‘defective piece’ and needing to ‘sell’ you to the parents of your prospective future spouse. Well, at least in a role reversal, it’s the boy’s father in the 2024 movie “Mr & Mrs Mahi” who feels the need to oversell his son’s credentials during an arranged-marriage meeting. Because the girl is a ‘topper’ and a doctor – Jahnvi Kapoor plays Mahima, AKA Mahi, the golden child of her Indian parents. However, “Mr & Mrs Mahi” starts with Rajkummar Rao’s character Mahendra Agarwal, also known as Mahi, who dreams of becoming a cricketer but is forced to work at his father’s sports-goods shop.
Directed by Sharan Sharma (Gunjan Saxena), who co-wrote “Mr and Mrs Mahi” with Nikhil Mehrotra, the Bollywood film is about how Mahima and Mahendra get married and bond over their love for cricket. When Mahendra discovers Mahima’s exceptional skills with the bat, he decides to coach her for a career in cricket, even though nobody else in the family supports them. Rajkummar Rao and Jahnvi Kapoor were last seen together in the horror-comedy “Roohi”, and once again make for an entertaining onscreen couple. That they are both called Mahi serves twin purposes: it’s an endearing coincidence and also a nod to one of India’s favorite cricket icon, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
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The first hour of “Mr and Mrs Mahi” is engrossing and serves some comedic moments, most of which are generated by the fraught relationship Mahendra shares with his strict, salesman father Mr. Agarwal (Kumud Mishra). Although sometimes their equation tends to feel too “filmy”, like when his father deliberately makes disparaging statements like “losers do not make it there”, when someone asks why Mahi’s photo isn’t featured in the shop’s wall. Mahi’s cricket coach Benny Dayal Shukla (Rajesh Sharma) displays more faith in him than his father. His marriage to Mahima marks a turning point in his life and director Sharan Sharma takes his time in setting up the blooming bond between the newlyweds. Mahendra and Mahima’s mutual love for cricket is the highlight of the first half, but once they enter a professional partnership, things begin to go haywire.
Rajkummar Rao and Jahnvi Kapoor charmingly capture both the awkward and cute sides of slowly falling in love after an arranged marriage. It’s when the story turns into a “Dangal”-style tale about a husband rigorously training his wife for cricket that “Mr and Mrs Mahi” begins to slow down. But unlike Aamir Khan’s Mahavir Singh Phogat in “Dangal”, Mahendra isn’t a selfless man trying to push someone he loves towards glory. One can guess the eventual conflict in the tale from the very beginning, and even though I was hoping it wouldn’t be about Mahendra feeling sidelined because his wife is doing well, the plot turns into just that. There jealousy, betrayal, tears, and the second half gets tiring with its focus on a man who cannot handle his own shortcomings.
Despite his character’s cliched behavior, Rajkummar Rao’s effortless portrayal of the misguided Mahendra delivers the most poignant moments of “Mr & Mrs Mahi”. Mahi is a man stifled by his narrow view of the world, and he undergoes a change of heart after an subtle (almost soppy) lecture about “finding happiness” from his mother Geeta (Zarina Wahab). Jahnvi Kapoor is convincing and likable as a demure doctor who decides to follow her passion for cricket at her husband’s behest. However, both the story and portrayal of her character’s transformation into an athlete felt far-fetched.
Thankfully, the pace picks up in “Mr & Mrs Mahi” towards the climax and we get an emotional, ‘feel-good’ tale, which feels almost satisfying. Watch the movie if you’re looking for a cricket-themed romance about a couple finding their happiness through a shared passion.
Stream the film on Netflix.
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