''Shabaash Mithu'' is a 2022 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

sports drama A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme (arts), theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus o ...

film directed by

Srijit Mukherji Srijit Mukherji (born 23 September 1977) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the limelight. His first featur ...

and produced by

Viacom18 Studios Viacom18 Studios is an Indian film distribution and production company. It is a subsidiary of JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Viacom18 and Disney India. Based in Mumbai, It is one of the first studio model based motion pi ...

. The film was based on the life of former

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

and ODI captain of the

India women's national cricket team The India women's national cricket team, also known as Women in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test ...

, Mithali Raj, stars

Taapsee Pannu Tapasee Pannu (born 1 August 1987), professionally known as Taapsee Pannu, is an Indian actress who works in Hindi, Telugu language, Telugu and Tamil language, Tamil films. Pannu is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards and a Filmfare OTT Award ...

in the title role. It chronicles the ups and downs and moments of glory in Mithali's life. The film was released on 15 July 2022. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics but was a major

box-office disaster A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

, grossing just under a tenth of its budget at the box office.

Plot

Mithali Raj is the former Test and ODI captain of the women's national cricket team. She led India to the finals of the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international women's cricket tournament that took place in England from 24 June to 23 July 2017. It was the eleventh edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England (after ...

. The film, based on her life, chronicles the events of her life's journey in the world of women's cricket. It presents her struggles and euphoric rise in women's cricket.

Cast

as Mithali "Mithu" Raj ** Inayat Verma as Young Mithali Raj *

Mumtaz Sorcar Mumtaz Sorcar (born 15 September) is an Indian actress and model. She is the daughter of the magician PC Sorcar Junior and Joysri Sorcar. Mumtaz started her career with a music video for singer Mehreen from Bangladesh. She played in the 2010 ...

as Jhorna Ghosh, character based on

Jhulan Goswami Jhulan Goswami (born 25 November 1982) is an Indian former cricketer. She played for the India women's national cricket team from 2002 to 2022. She played as a right-arm medium fast bowler and right-handed batter. She is one of the fastest ( ...

Vijay Raaz Vijay Raaz (born 5 June 1963) is an Indian actor, film director and narrator, who predominantly appears in Hindi films. He debuted with '' Bhopal Express'' (1999) and since worked in more than 90 films. His breakthrough came when he played the ...

as Sampath, Mithali's coach *

Brijendra Kala Brijendra Kala is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is known for his subtle portrayals of characters rooted in reality. He gained attention for his small roles in mainstream cinema. Early life Kala spent his childhood in Mathura, ...

as BCCI Main Person *

Devadarshini Devadarshini is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil films, in addition to few Telugu, Malayalam films and television series. She began her career as a television anchor and entered cinema playing supporting and comedic roles. ...

as Leela Raj, Mithali's mother * Swayam Joshi as an unnamed young boy *

Sameer Dharmadhikari Sameer Dharmadhikari is an Indian film and television actor and model known for playing the role of Samrat Bindusara Maurya in ''Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat''. He played the male lead in the Marathi film '' Nirop'' that won the National Award f ...

as Dorai Raj, Mithali's father * Aditi Aryan as Sresha Badyal * Nirali Oza as Preeti Valhar * Priya Kumari as Roma Kwatra * Ramya Suresh as Himakshi Ganeshan * Titeeksha Tawde as Khushi Anvekar * Kajal Shishodia as Kajal Sutar * Manashree Gavande as Manashree Gavande * Vaishnavi Desai as Vaishnavi Madiga * Ramsingh Falkoti as Peon Bala * Shilpi Marwaha as Sukumari Marwaha * Anushree Kushwaha as Noorie ** Kasturi Jagnam as Young Noorie * Nishant Pradhan as Mithun Raj, Mithali's brother * Kalyani Jha as Perizad * Sampa Mandal as Nilu Paswan * Vishak Nair as Chandan ji (Nilu's Fiance)

Production

Development

After the

Viacom 18 Motion Pictures Viacom18 Studios is an Indian film distribution and production company. It is a subsidiary of JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Viacom18 and Disney India. Based in Mumbai, It is one of the first studio model based motion pic ...

acquired the rights to make a feature film on Raj's life. She said, "Hoping that this movie inspires more people, especially young girls to take up sports as a career." The biopic was planned to shoot in 2019. Raj said, "I think Priyanka Chopra will be a great choice (to play me in the biopic). Our personalities match a lot. I am not a movie buff, so I'd love the experts to do their job." Finally it was

who was chosen to play the role of Mithali Raj in the biopic named as ''Shabaash Mithu'', to be directed by Rahul Dholakia in 2020.

Preparation and training

On 3 December 2019, coinciding with the birthday of Mithali Raj, the film was finalized with Taapsee Pannu in the title role and Rahul Dholakia as director. In January 2021 Pannu posted her training photos from 3 December 2019, 29 January 2020 and 27 January 2021. In March 2021,

again posted photos of her preparation and training for the film. She trained under Nooshin Al Khadeer, a former cricket player and Mithali Raj's friend. The film earlier was anticipated to be released on 5 February 2021 under direction of Rahul Dholakia, but filming was delayed due to COVID-19. In June

replaced

Rahul Dholakia Rahul Dholakia is an Indian film director- producer-screenwriter, most known for his National Film Award-winning film, '' Parzania '' (Heaven & Hell On Earth) (2005),wrapped up on 9 November. The film was shot on

Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

in London, and across domestic and international locations to bring real feel of actual events that happened in Mithali's life.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by

Amit Trivedi Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, musician who works primarily for Indian cinema. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as ...

, Salvage Audio Collective and Charan. Lyrics are written by

Swanand Kirkire Swanand Kirkire (born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, who works in Marathi and Hindi film and television. Kirkire won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice: f ...

, Kausar Munir and Charan. The background score is composed by Salvage Audio Collective.

Release

Theatrical

On 3 December coinciding with birthday of Mithali Raj releasing a teaser poster the producer announced the release date of the film as 4 February 2022. The date clashed with Rajkummar Rao's comedy film '' Badhaai Do'', which was postponed to 11 February. Subsequently the film was not released and finally it was released on 15 July 2022.

Festival

In 2023, the film was selected in 'Game On' section at the

29th Kolkata International Film Festival The 29th Kolkata International Film Festival began on 5 December 2023 at Netaji Indoor Stadium, in Kolkata, India. A 1963 romantic comedy Bengali film ''Deya Neya'' by Sunil Bannerjee opened the festival, which screened 219 films from 39 countr ...

and will be screened on 8 December 2023.

Home media

The film digitally streamed on both

Voot Voot was an Indian subscription video-on-demand and over-the-top streaming service owned by Viacom18, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Network18. The service was initially launched on 4 May 2016. It initially launched as an adver ...

and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in Hindi and dubbed versions of Tamil and Telugu languages from 12 August 2022.

Reception

Box office

''Shabaash Mithu'' earned 0.40 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day, 0.55 crore on the second day and 0.70 crore on third day. , the film grossed in India and overseas, for a worldwide gross collection of . Film was declared disaster at box office after end of its theatrical run.

Critical response

Anindita Mukherjee of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

'' rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "''Shabaash Mithu'' is a film that will definitely not turn around Bollywood's fate in the era of South domination, but it surely moves you."

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, editor and documentary screenwriter. He was a columnist at ''BBC News'', ''Business Standard'', ''Hindustan Times'' and '' The Financial Express''. He has also written for ''The Telegraph'', ''The Tim ...

of ''

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "As a fond tribute to a cricketer who transformed the fortunes of women in India's most popular sport, it puts just enough on the scoreboard not be dismissed as an innings without substance." Sonil Dedhia of ''

News 18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, (d/b/a Network18 Group) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by the Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief, a ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The film has sincerity and has been crafted with care. It deserves to be watched for the journey of a woman, who is responsible for the incredible rise of Indian Women's cricket in the last two decades." Rachana Dubey of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, " The movie doesn't amply showcase those edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting moments that would have unfolded in her life, especially during the 2017 world cup." Himesh Mankad of ''

Pinkvilla Pinkvilla is an Indian entertainment and lifestyle platform. As of June 2022, Pinkvilla has over 50,000,000 visitors on its website and app. Overview Pinkvilla covers entertainment and lifestyle stories. Its coverage extends to Hindi cinema, ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Shabaash Mithu deserves to be watched to witness the journey of a woman, who is responsible for the incredible rise of Indian Women's cricket in the last two decades - Mithali Raj."

Shubhra Gupta Shubhra Gupta is an Indian film critic who writes for ''The Indian Express''. She received the Ramnath Goenka Award for Best Writing on Cinema in 2012. She was a member of the Central Board of Film Certification from 2012 to 2015. She is the au ...

of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Taapsee Pannu shines in a film that has no space for nuance. Director Srijit Mukerji ensures everything is underlined in this sports drama."

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

rated the film with 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "On the whole, ''Shabaash Mithu'' tells an inspiring tale of one of the greatest cricket legends in the world. At the box office, it has the potential to draw in audiences, especially in urban centres. It also deserves tax-free status."

References

External links

* * {{Viacom18 Studios 2020s Hindi-language films Indian biographical films Sports films based on actual events Biographical films about sportspeople Cultural depictions of cricketers Films about cricket in India Films about women's sports Viacom18 Studios films Women's cricket in India Cultural depictions of Indian people Films shot in London Women's Cricket World Cup