Meerabai Not Out

As a kid, I was an ardent fan of Filmfare Awards function and every year looked forward for its live telecast without fail. The one year I wasn’t allowed to watch it due to following exams, I was heartbroken and couldn’t prepare for the tests either. My passion was much above my priority of things in life. So I could identify with the corresponding Meerabai mania in this film towards the countrywide sport, though the film did pretty less to make you connect with her cricket concerns.

Meera Achrekar (Mandira Bedi) is a die-hard Anil Kumble fan and teaches mathematics to school students through cricket calculations. This resident of a Shivaji Park chawl is single but mingles only with society boys for gully cricket. Both mother (Vandana Gupte) and brother (Mahesh Manjrekar) are searching for a prospective groom for Meera until she literally stumbles upon her perfect ‘match’ – outside the field.

Dr Arjun Awasthi (Eijaz Khan) not only treats Meera’s injured boy-team for free but also takes the captain on coffee dates and before you realize, they are in love. Anupam Kher repeats the regular widowed father act from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein and persuades his son to get married. Despite initial hesitation he accepts Meera as his son’s bridal choice.

But Meera seems to have seen Bend it Like Beckhem which inspires her to turn towards the stadium ironically on her ‘match-making’ day. Father figure calls off the engagement and the two teams have to work towards the reconciliation now.

Meerabai Not Out isn’t essentially a sports film but is more about one’s obsession towards any particular element in life and in this case it’s cricket. Unfortunately Meera’s passion for cricket doesn’t quite come across in the film. Her craze towards cricket isn’t convincingly established and is simply restricted to a few jargons about the game in her dialogues. Even the romance track isn’t compelling enough and hurried, though the screenplay is stretched otherwise.

A background voiceover initiates the film and takes too long to come to the point. The narrative relies on this intermittent narration through the film, which speaks of the weak storytelling. A PT teacher’s unspoken infatuation towards Meera doesn’t quite deliver and Meera’s boy team is relegated to some kacha limbu junior artists. Mandira doesn’t really look like a tomboy if that was the intention and, as per Bollywood clichés, the bespectacled girl opts for lenses on falling in love. Not much of an eye-opener!!!

The film is loosely edited and even the camerawork appears jaded. The humour isn’t slapstick but at most instances lacks punches and falls flat. However director Chandrakant Kulkarni gets the middle-class ambience correct, to an extent and thankfully doesn’t make Anil Kumble act beyond permissible limits.

Anupam Kher comes up with a composed act. Mandira Bedi seems comfortable around the cricket arena and doesn’t disappoint. Eijaz Khan is easy on eyes. Mahesh Manjrekar gets his one-over of glory in the latter half. Vandana Gupte is a pleasant and plausible change from regular Bollywood mothers.

Meerabai is certainly not out but remains non-striker for a major part of the play. This one isn’t bad but doesn’t bowl you over either.

What happens when cupid is pitted against cricket? ‘Meerabai Not Out’ tells the story of an unmarried woman whose love for cricket – and Anil Kumble in particular – blinds her towards the love that her day-to-day life has to offer.

The movie stars Mandira Bedi , Anupam Kher , Mahesh Manjrekar , and newcomer Eijaz Khan. The film


also has special appearances by Anil Kumble and Charu Sharma.

We love cricket. India loves the game. Cricketers are our heroes – our triumphant boys in blue. Cricket is out religion, obsession, love, and passion.

In ‘Meerabai Not Out’, Pritish Nandy Communications promise the craziest, most amazing love story! And the one thing it's not about is hearts, flowers and cupid with his bow-n-arrow! In fact, tweak it a little, take away the bow-n-arrow, and put a bat in Cupid's plump little arms and what you've got Meerabai Not Out!

Meera Achrekar, a mathematics teacher at Vishwaprem Vidyalaya, has been happy and single for quite a while now. The great love of her life has been, and will always remain, cricket and Anil Kumble. The meticulous number cruncher is, despite not being the classic eye-candy-teenage-fantasy-fodder, a huge hit in class. And that's because Meera, unlike most teachers of her school, is more fanatical about her religion (read cricket) than even the school cricket captain!

Living with her family in their small home in a Mumbai chawl, Meera was initiated into her temple of Wankhede Stadium by her brother, Manoj.

Manoj Anant Achrekar played cricket at the Ranji Trophy level. Sadly, middle class making-ends-meet economics got the better of the impressive Maharashtrian leggie, and passion had to make way for responsibility. Mahesh is today a cricket cynic. So while Meera bunks classes and fights for season tickets to every cricket match that is played at Wankhede Stadium, Mahesh even steers clear off cricket scores!

While the folk at Bhaktiyog Society have cast aspersions on her craze towards the game, the bigger problem that worries the Achrekar family is Meera's still-single status. Love suddenly blossoms with heart-specialist, Dr Arjun Sachdeva, and Meera realizes that perhaps there is more to life than praying for Team India and Anil Kumble! However, in between this fabulous exchange of text messages, Valentine's Day outings and walks along Chowpatty, she confesses to Arjun that she is already married to cricket!

So, while the maiden's heart beats for Anil Kumble and India's fortunes, the more important question is: will Meera be able to commit to her non-striker beau and keep her prospective father-in-law at bay?

‘Meerabai Not Out’ is directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni and has music by Sandesh Shandiliya.

Meerabai Not Out, based on cricket, is an upcoming Hindi Bollywood film that stars Mahesh Manjrekar, Mandira Bedi, Eijaz Khan and Anupam Kher. It is a Pritish Nandy Communications presented movie, directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni.

Mandira Bedi plays a deglam role of a cricket-crazy fan. Anil Kumble will be seen for a small role in the film. According to Mandira "Anil has done a tiny role with me in Meerabai Not Out. The film should release after IPL. I am Meerabai, a cricket crazy fan. Anil is such a charming man… he took my wicket."

The film has already changed it's release date many times; it will be released in 2008.