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  Pic: Ramakant Kushwaha

It's not often that M.C. Mary Kom sees a Hindi film twice in quick succession. But she has seen Priyanka Chopra's latest film twice — once before its release with her family and the film crew, and the second time after it hit the theatres last week. The verdict is clear. 'Of course, I liked it. After all it's on my own life,' the 31-year-old boxer says and giggles.

Mary Kom — the film — is being talked about across the country. And Mary Kom — the world champ — is enjoying the excitement that it has triggered. Right now, though, she has other things on her mind. She is training in Delhi for the Asian Games to be held in South Korea later this month. She starts her day with a vigorous jog and a few rounds in the ring. She has just walked in for her breakfast in the hostel mess at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi. The huge hall is almost empty, barring the few athletes who are sitting in one corner and casting furtive looks at Mary Kom.

And, of course, the boxer is a sight for sore eyes. She is wearing a blue T-shirt with black shorts. The mother of three little boys has a youthful body, which makes her look more like a long distance runner than a boxer. And though Mary Kom is barely 5 feet 2 inches tall, once in the boxing ring this pocket dynamo from Manipur starts towering over taller boxers.

Kom, who won a bronze at the London Olympics, is a cult figure today — not just because of the medals that she has won but also because of the Priyanka Chopra-starrer which may not have been extolled by critics but grossed an impressive ₹ 28 crore in its first weekend. From athletes to coaches and even the guards at the stadium gate, everybody stops to tell her that they have seen the film. 'I feel very good about it. I think many more people know about me now,' she says.

But why is her signature left hook missing from the screen? Didn't she teach Chopra a few of her moves in the ring? 'Not really. It may seem strange, but we didn't discuss my boxing very much. Priyanka liked talking about things that I did outside the ring. She wanted to know my likes and dislikes. She wanted to know how I was as a daughter, sister, mom, and as a wife,' Kom says.

The pugilist says she cried twice while watching the film. 'I got very emotional watching my village felicitate me. The whole Kom community is proud of me. We never had anybody worth mentioning — not a minister nor a police officer, not even a sportsman from our community. I was the first,' she says. The other time she cried was remembering her own struggles with one of the twins when he was ailing.

'I was very stressed and almost refused to take part in competitions. Even the doctor told me that I should be with him, but my husband wanted me to pursue my dreams and was very supportive. Those scenes were done very well,' she says.

Is the film true to life then? 'Most events shown in the film are real, but with a little bit of masala,' she laughs, holding her thumb and forefinger together to show how little. It's a phrase she uses often during the course of our conversation whenever we discuss a scene that looks a bit stretched.

Her journey to the hospital during her first pregnancy was not as dramatic as it was shown in the film; she had a street fight once, but never fought for money; her father was unsure about her success in boxing, but never vehemently opposed to it. And, no, she was not in the ring fighting in the final of a world championship when her son was being operated upon. 'It's a commercial film. You have to expect these things, naa,' she reasons.

But Kom is clearly impressed by Chopra — who has largely been lauded for her role. She remembers how the actor and Omung Kumar, the film's director, would drop in at her Imphal home early in the morning and spend hours together. 'She saw how we lived. She met my family and had a close look at my early life. It was a lesson for her. My rise from the rice fields of Kangathei village to winning five World Championships has been captured really well. Priyanka wanted to be as authentic as possible on the screen and she has done a great job.'

Though the film may have deviated from real life on her first meeting with her husband Onler Karong Kom (they met in Delhi and not in Imphal), actor Darshan Kumar, who played her husband, is a hit with her. 'That character is almost the same as real life Onler. He doesn't talk much and he is very stable-minded unlike me — I am very talkative,' she says.

She doesn't want to talk about the financial details of her contract with the filmmakers, but says she had a few conditions before she signed on the dotted line. 'I was okay if they used the original names of my family members, but not of the coaches, players and officials. I didn't want any problems. Somebody might say they were shown in a negative light and all that. So names have been changed,' she says.

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So there is no mention of coaches L. Ibomacha Singh or K. Kesana Meitei, who trained her in her initial years of boxing. Pinky Jangra, to whom she lost in one of the trials, becomes Preety on the screen, and so on. The film criticises the role of the Boxing Federation. 'A few officials have told me that they were not happy with the way the federation was portrayed while many others said they had no problem with that. I think they also understand that it's a film,' she says.

But she has one regret — that she couldn't witness a single scene being shot because the shooting didn't take place in Manipur. 'Much of the film was shot in Manali and I was busy with my third child at that time. So I couldn't go there,' she says. The athlete had tried to have the film shot in Manipur, but the filmmakers feared the 'UG' — as she calls the underground militants.

Kom, who won two World Championships after she mothered twin sons, now hopes to make a comeback in the arena after the birth of her third son in 2013. 'And if God wills, I'll also be there in the Rio Olympics,' she says. 'I want to wear the Olympic gold medal over my bronze medal. That is my dream,' she says.

But before that, of course, she is eyeing the Asian Games in Incheon. 'I would like to stand on the podium in Incheon, hear the national anthem and see the Indian flag go up,' she says. Just like it happens — spoiler alert! — in the last scene of the film.

Just reel life

Where Mary Kom deviates from real life

Her journey to the hospital during her first pregnancy was not as dramatic as was shown in the film

She had a street fight once, but never fought for money

Her father was never vehemently opposed to her boxing

She was not in the ring fighting in the final of a world championship when her son was being operated upon.