Shabaash Mithu tells the untold story of cricketing legend Mithali Raj and her struggles. The childhood portions are very entertaining and unlike any other such sequence in a film ever. The journey of the grown-up Mithali is also quite engaging, especially the obstacles she and the ‘women in blue’ face not just from society but also from the cricket board. The intermission point is superb and the last 5 minutes of the film are moving. On the flipside, the film moves at a slow pace. The 162-minute-long film could have been shorter. Also, footage of the match has been used in the final and it’s shown in a hurried manner. One wishes the makers had worked a bit hard here, especially when viewers have recently seen authentic recreation of the cricket matches in ’83. Speaking of performances, Taapsee Pannu, as always, rocks the show. In a few scenes, however, she was a little more restrained than what was required. Vijay Raaz is dependable. Kasturi Jagnam is terrific as the young Noorie. Inayat Verma (young Mithali) is cute and a fine performer. Sampa Mandal (Neelu Paswan) leaves a huge mark followed by Mumtaz Sorcar (Jhorna Ghosh) and Shilpi Marwaha (Sukumari Marwah). Darwesh Sayyed (young Mithun) is great as Mithali’s brother and the same goes for Tahir Anand (Subodh). Sameer Dharmadhikari (Mithali’s father Dorai Raj), Jyoti Subhash (Mithali’s grandfather) and Nishant Pradhan (Mithun Raj) are okay. All in all, Shabaash Mithu is a decent watch thanks to the premise and certain dramatic and engaging moments.
My rating – *** out of 5!