Review: ‘Meerabai Not Out’; Mandira Bedi Out For A Duck!

New Delhi,: If you thought Mandira Bedi had it in her to make it big on the 70 mm, you are certainly mistaken. We would rather suffer her on our TV screens only, at least that will save us the embarrassment of going through a bad movie watching experience!

Don’t know what the supposedly enticing lass was thinking when she signed ‘Meerabai Not Out’. One, the sexy lady is dressed from tip to toe (a big disappointment), weren’t we expecting a rerun of ‘XXXtra Innings’? Of course we were, but there’s not even a single X out there. Two, Bedi is trying to romance a guy half her age (Whoa)!

Quite surprisingly, the movie fails in spite of being on cricket (the sport that gave Bedi’s all the oomph and the aah…). Another not so good part, the flick sees TV actor Eijaz Khan making his long awaited debut, but he barely manages to survive, though he’s nothing short of a stunner.

If this wasn’t all, this one also has a cricketer cum hamming actor, Anil Kumble (Oh God, why did he quit cricket after all?).

Alas, even the story fails to move the audience. It goes something like this- Meera Achrekar (Mandira Bedi) can't think beyond cricket and is a huge fan of Anil Kumble. She teaches maths in a Hindi medium school. She plays this cricket crazy woman, leading a mundane life which includes- holding protest marches, picking up fights with people selling cricket match tickets in black. The heroine also leads a team called Meera XI in her society. So her life starts and ends with cricket, she sleeps, eats and drinks cricket and the sole purpose of her life is to cheer her hero Kumble, until she enters a quest for finding a life partner.

With the beginning of a groom finding quest, her brother Manoj (Mahesh Manjrekar) starts visiting matrimonial institutions, the mother matches horoscopes and Meera simply tries to run from reality. But one fine day, the lady bumps into a doctor and love blossoms (though the chemistry suffers). Rest is history, but not before a not so great twist.

As for the other actors, Mahesh Manjrekar is the only one who stands out, Mandira struggles. Eijaz Khan is just fine, but perhaps he should’ve chosen some other movie as his debut. Anupam Kher is his usual 'comic' self.

Director Chadrakant Kulkarni tries hard but fails to leave an impression. Two cheers for this attempt.

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