‘Maa Behen’ movie review: Madhuri Dixit steers a frantic, polished ride that is entirely aware of its own punchline

By taking India’s astir exhausted thoroughfare insult and turning it into a literal rotation telephone — Maa (Madhuri Dixit) and Behen (Triptii Dimri and Dharna Durga) — the prolific Suresh Triveni fundamentally asks this week: What if the women routinely weaponised successful section cuss words really squad up to fell a dormant assemblage oregon the rot of patriarchal entitlement. It shares DNA with Darlings and Haseen Dillruba, pulp-crime comedies headlined by mainstream actors successful which mean women subvert expectations by outsmarting society, only to uncover that the transgression we panicked implicit is much visceral than it seems.

Set successful a middle-class lodging society, cleverly called Adarsh Colony, Maa Behen gradually becomes a carnal practice of societal surveillance. The neighbour network, led by Charitra Kumar Gupta (Ravi Kishan), is designed to amusement however a judgmental assemblage assassinates the quality of a azygous woman, a azygous mother.

Triveni teams up with writer Pooja Tolani to systematically portion distant the thought of a ineffable mother, transforming her into a flawed mastermind successful a crime. Rejecting decades of practice that demanded maternal self-sacrifice, the duo replaces it with the earthy instinct of self-preservation.

Playing connected the characters of a fashionable detergent jingle, Pooja stitches a crisp societal commentary connected the decease of accepted shame. The precise aforesaid middle-class women who were erstwhile celebrated for cleaning up home messiness present usage their cleaning skills to outsmart the nosy neighbour.

In this battle, Rekha’s (Madhuri) sleeveless blouse becomes a motion of non-compliance. Jaya (Triptii) stands for sensible, well-mannered protectors of home conformity earlier the fuse bursts, and Sushma (Dharna) is simply a awesome of the detached, surface addicted, net procreation looking for likes.

Structured arsenic in-your-face subversion, the movie relies connected the worth of watching Madhuri and Triptii grip an unglamorous situation successful a suburban setup. It looks a spot put-on, but that artificiality is precisely what drives the film’s campy, satirical tone, explained astatine each measurement by Shrivardhan Trivedi of Sansani fame.

Unlike Tumhari Sulu, Triveni struggles erstwhile helium tries to bash 3 things astatine once: present a crisp critique of the idealised Indian parent portion besides creating the quiescent dread of a enigma and loud, rip-roaring comedic moments. The structural tug-of-war doesn’t conscionable subvert tropes; it points retired that it is doing so. This self-awareness disrupts the story’s reality. When the parody of household dynamics unravels, the characters consciousness little similar existent radical and much similar symbols utilized to marque a point.

Part of the occupation is the tonal mismatch betwixt performances. Full marks for taking the plunge successful a challenging role, but Madhuri’s aura ne'er rather dissolves into the gritty, small-town world the movie needs, leaving her show looking similar a calculated acting workout alternatively than a morally ambivalent lived-in character. While she and Triptii run successful a mainstream sitcom registry with predominant rolling of eyes, exaggerated gasps, and synchronised shouting, Shardul Bhardwaj and Geetanjali Kulkarni execute with a grounded, textured realism, not acknowledging that they are successful a comedy. Ravi Kishan, who excels successful this space, is reduced to a prop. What could person been a afloat fleshed-out jugalbandi betwixt him and Madhuri is traded distant for a modular trope.

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The societal commentary astir however nine polices women loses its interaction due to the fact that the nine connected surface feels similar a sitcom acceptable alternatively than a existent community. As the layout feels engineered for camera angles, the earthy hostility dissipates. Triveni tries to make frantic vigor to disguise the deficiency of genuine communicative progression, but it doesn’t hold. The solution to anemic pacing isn’t to person the characters speech faster and outcry louder.

In the last act, erstwhile Madhuri’s melodramatic gravity takes over, she instantly elevates the worldly to a poignant survey of maternal survival. But it can’t rescue the acheronian comedy, due to the fact that the makers support nudging the audience, saying, “Look however edgy we are being!”

Maa Behen is presently streaming connected Netflix