Mr & Mrs Mahi: Janhvi Kapoor dislocated both her shoulders during cricket training: “There were a lot of times when I felt I should just give up”

espite her injuries, Kapoor remained committed to mastering the sport.

By Monica Yadav -

May 16, 2024 - 9:30 AM IST

In the upcoming film Mr & Mrs Mahi, Bollywood actor Janhvi Kapoor is set to showcase her cricket skills that she diligently honed over two years. At the ‘Dekkha Tenu’ song launch event in Mumbai, Kapoor revealed the extent of her dedication, disclosing that she dislocated both her shoulders while undergoing rigorous training for the role.

Mr & Mrs Mahi: Janhvi Kapoor dislocated both her shoulders during cricket training: “There were a lot of times when I felt I should just give up”

The 25-year-old actor embarked on her cricket journey while promoting her film Mili, nearly two years ago. Despite her injuries, Kapoor remained committed to mastering the sport. She expressed her gratitude towards the film's director, Sharan Sharma, who previously worked with her in the critically acclaimed Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl. Sharma's insistence on authenticity led him to avoid using visual effects to enhance the cricket scenes in Mr & Mrs Mahi. Instead, he pushed Kapoor to fully embody the role of a cricketer.

Janhvi Kapoor said, “A lot of hard work has gone into it. I trained for almost two years. I started training while promoting Mili, it’s been two years.”

Kapoor praised Sharma's purist approach, stating, “Our director is a purist and works with a lot of honesty, so he wanted me to become a cricketer for the film. He didn’t want any cheating on that, didn’t want to use VFX, or do anything half-heartedly. He wanted me to be one with this universe, be a cricketer wholeheartedly.” This commitment to realism resulted in Kapoor facing numerous challenges during her preparation, including the dislocation of both her shoulders.

Despite the setbacks, Kapoor credited her director and coaches, Abhishek Nayar and Vikrant Sir, for their unwavering support and guidance throughout her training. Their collective effort not only helped Kapoor develop her cricket skills but also enabled her to immerse herself fully in the character. She added, “There were a lot of times when I felt I should just give up, that I couldn’t do it, my body was giving up, but I’d get a lot of courage from them. Every time I saw the director’s passion, understood his vision, I used to get angry, irritated, we used to fight a lot too, but today we are here, and I am feeling fulfilled looking at the work we put in as a team. I hope people appreciate it and like the movie as well.”

She went on to say, “To be honest, I know very little about the sport. For me, the sport would be something that would take my father’s time away from me. When he used to come back from work in the evening, he would sit in front of the TV to watch a match. Whenever I would ask him any question, he used to say, ‘One second, let me watch the match’. He used to get so involved in it, and I would get upset with him.”

“I used to think cricket is the reason why my father is not giving me any attention. That was my only relationship with the sport. When my friends used to go for matches, I used to go with them just to look cool. But reality was different, when Sharan narrated this film to me, he told me that I would need a lot of training. I thought I did train for Gunjan too, and it would be similar for this film, but it was too much,” Janhvi Kapoor concluded.

Mr & Mrs Mahi also stars Rajkummar Rao. The film backed by Karan Johar’s Dharma Entertainment and Zee Studios and is scheduled to release in theatres on May 31 in cinemas.