Cast: Mandira Bedi, Eijaz Khan, Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar, Anil Kumble

Director: Chandrakant Kulkarni

Meera Achrekar, bespectacled Maths teacher, loves cricket. And Anil Kumble. More than numbers. More than even her boyfriend, who is resigned to be on the sidelines all his life.

Meerabai Not Out was meant to release last year, during the World Cup, but was held back because of the Indian team’s lousy performance. Things have changed drastically in between— India is on top, but Mandira Bedi, who plays Meera Achrekar, is no longer the only noodle strap in business.

As cricket-crazy Meera, Mandira’s not half bad: her “chashme wali seedhi saadhi” girl is believable. So is TV actor Eijaz, making his film debut, as the second fiddle who knows he will always be trumped by a famous cricketing star. But there’s not enough drama in the telling. Anil Kumble makes nano-second appearances. And the only time you see Mandira in her trademark noodle straps is in the item song right towards the end, when the credits are rolling. If you stay that long.

shubhra.gupta@gmail.com