Is this film that would have you do Mexican wave in support of girl power ? Absolutely. Is it a film that is faithful to the story of a woman athlete from North East India? Not by a long shot. Priyanka Chopra is slowly carving her way to the top with some impeccable performances.
After she stunned all with her Barfi! Role, the actress is all set to hit hard with a biopic. Priyanka Chopra is seen playing boxer Mary Kom in her biopic, by the same name. With the first look just released, Priyanka Chopra is already winning accolades on that front. Priyanka has always maintained that Mary Kom was one of the hardest films of her career. And that she had to sweat it out in the gym to achieve the perfect physique to portray the Indian boxer onscreen. Her transformation had to be made from the glamorous actress to a hard hitting sportsperson.
The actress will be seen going bald in one specific sequence. And she was sure excited for it, Priyanka said, “That is a very authentic scene and I was very excited for it. I never say never, so was all around the set wearing the bald look. As an actor I feel that it is my duty for the role that I portray, that I do it with complete honesty. It is a personal challenge that I set for myself to portray all my characters differently.”
Priyanka Chopra was cast as Mary Kom, Priyanka Chopra visited Kom’s hometown in Manipur as a familiarization to learn more about the life of Mary Kom. While the visit Chopra was shared advices from Mary Kom and she stated “When she came to Manipur, she knew about boxing so I gave her tips as a mother and a wife, how I went about managing my home and profession, how I live with my family — basically she got to know aspects about my family life.” Chopra also had to go through an extensive training schedule for the role of a boxer for 10 days to ensure physicality and agility is well in place before the shoot. Priyanka also suffered an injury while shooting for the film. “Priyanka was filming a boxing scene with an actor from the North-East. She fell on the floor due to the impact. She got the shot spot on, so director Omung Kumar decided to retain it. The cut mark that you will eventually see on screen under her eye is real but we did touch it up with makeup to make it look deeper,” says Uday Shirale, who has been working on Priyanka’s look—basically she got to.
In an interview, Sanjay Leela Bhansali said, “Mary Kom has made India proud. I was moved by her story. She is a mother of two, has been through so many struggles, has tremendous spirit and a sense of
living and dignity and is now a World Champion. She has what it takes to make a great champion. An Indian woman boxer is rare. It will be an exciting film to produce and I am very happy to do it.”
Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali compares Priyanka Chopra with ‘Million Dollar Baby’ star Hilary Swank insisting that only ‘Barfi’ star could pull of the title role in ‘Mary Kom’, a biopic on Olympic bronze medallist and five-time World Champion M.C. Mary Kom. Sports drama Million Dollar Baby was the story of a waitress’ determination to become a boxing champ and Swank played the protagonist in the film, which did so well that it took home four golden statuettes. “‘Mary Kom’ is a very special film and no one other than Priyanka could have pulled off the role,” Bhansali told reporters at the trailer launch of Mary Kom.
“Priyanka is an atom bomb and power packed talent. Bhansali also compared Priyanka’s talent with Nutan and Waheeda Rehman saying she is in the “same league”. “If a film has to happen, it will happen. For this film, we had no meetings or readings. Omung was in the lift and told me he wants to make a film on Mary Kom and I said yes then and there. So, I feel the film was meant to happen,” he said.
Directed by Omung Kumar and co-produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali Productions, the movie will release Sep 5, 2014.
By Shamim Noorani.
Female ladies in lead roles Exceelnt work