‘Maja Ma’ movie review: Madhuri Dixit-starrer feels sanitised and superficial

These days, young filmmakers are interested in making this world a more equal place, but the way they go about it is often a manual on how to make their screenplays more inclusive of stories or how to pass the Bechdel Test. Usually made for the OTT subscriber, they seem appropriate to start a timely debate or discussion, but end up sounding pretentious, expressing the borrowed resentment of a well-heeled viewer.

Director Anand Tiwari’s latest is an awareness of what has happened in the past in the LGBTQIA+ space; It pushes the envelope but keeps it well within the family-drama space, perhaps managed by the lead actor’s portrayal. Usually, the discussion on coming out is focused on the current generation, but what if a middle-aged mother is being sexually assaulted by society or centuries of patriarchy?

In an animated discussion with her awakened heterosexual daughter, Pallavi Patel’s (Madhuri Dixit) secret is revealed, as her son Tejas (Ritvik Bhowmik) threatens to spoil her daughter’s (Barkha Singh) marriage chances. The millionaire American-Indian parents have an exotic idea of ​​Indian culture and tradition.

Tiwari has beautifully navigated the cultural differences in music Bandish bandits, this time keeping it a satire as Bob and Pam Hansraj (Rajit Kapoor and Sheeba Chadha) use a polygraph test to find a match for their daughter. While this may seem ridiculous at first, it soon becomes a dangerous tool to keep the story moving.

Writer Sumit Batheja recently showed a father suffocating in a relationship that we usually associate with a son in Hindi movies. Jag Jag Geo, A step forward The house is ours. However, he expects only a little more sensitivity from the audience than a journalist in a film that confuses LGBT with LPG. He focuses on the surface of the problem and, at times, physically punishes the male characters for making irresponsible or, in his words, “pedestrian” comments. Fortunately, he has actors who don’t let it reduce him to a pontifical exercise, delivered in all caps in American and Gujarati accents. Rajit and Sheeba stuffed some flesh and blood into cardboard-like containers. Rithvik is relatable once again and Barkha knows the drill meant for a girl caught between boyfriend and parents. Srishti Srivastava excels as a daughter who can read her mother’s mind.

This vehicle is designed for Madhuri who chooses the mainstream route for an off-roader aspiring subject. Needless to say, Madhuri is a brilliant actress but there is no point in casting her if the plot has to be sanitized by her presence. Pallavi doesn’t feel claustrophobic in the closet and the film doesn’t really mention it. Does the writer really know her or is he selling something he can sell today with Madhuri in the lead? Gajaraj Rao gets the tone of the drama right; As Manohar, a husband struggling with social pressures, he is spot on.

As the title suggests in Gujarati, the problem doesn’t get in the way the house (fun) But the two are mixed like oil and water – surface!

Maja Maa is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.