Star Cast: Sanya Malhotra, Nishant Dahiya, Kanwaljit Singh, Aparna Ghoshal, Mrinal Kulkarni, Nitya Moyal
Director: Arati Kadav
What’s Good: Sanya Malhotra & the premise of the film.
What’s Bad: The execution that makes marriages look scary and unfit.
Loo Break: Anytime you want!
Watch or Not?: Very dicey – only if you can have a balanced approach to analyze without getting carried away.
Language: Hindi
Available On: Zee 5
User Rating:
“Din mein 12 – 12 ghante kaam karta hun, kam se kam time pe khaana to expect kar hi sakta hun,” says a man to his newlywed wife who also sends her on a guilt trip for not making his lunch on time. The same doctor man/husband, after two days, asks his wife not to enter the kitchen when she starts menstruating and take rest while he arranges for the food, very understandingly bringing polythene packed roadside dhaba stuff and putting it on the dining table, trying to help his ‘Mrs.’
Sanya Malhotra’s film, which is an official adaptation of the much-talked-about Malayalam remake The Great Indian Kitchen, is almost a frame-to-frame adaptation from the OG, but the film still works brilliantly. Guess why? Because, nothing has changed in the span of time that passed from the Malayalam film’s release to the Hindi film. Women are still struggling for acknowledgment, respect, and a life outside the kitchen as well.
Mrs walks straight into the problem it needs to address from the very first scene, a woman who is dancing to her fullest, while her family is prepping for her ‘Ladki dikhaao’ mission. In the very next scene, the film swings with full speed from Sanya’s Richa getting married to a doctor who specializes in female anatomy! This one sentence sets up the premise of the entire film, setting up an ironic contrast, which is sad.
Mrs. Movie Review: Script Analysis
The storyline of the film is pretty simple. A young, energetic girl, Richa, who was impressed by the profession of a man (remember the male gynecologist) Diwakar, walks into a lavish and extravagant wedding, not knowing the family she is walking into, trusting a man she has met only for a few hours.
The premise of the film is built as earliest as possible, thanks to the brilliant dialogues and screenplay that starts hinting at the misogyny and patriarchal setup Richa walks into. On the very first night, she is excitedly checking herself out in the mirror, waiting for the man she chose, who is now her husband, killing her waiting time unpacking some wedding gifts – all kitchen utilities.
A woman who should be welcomed in the family is very awkwardly told, “Main us side sota hun, AC 21 pe rehta hai.” That’s it. She is not even asked about her choices, preferences, comfort. But make no mistake, Diwakar is a loving man; he immediately makes her feel comfortable as she lies down because, obviously, good sex is important! However, his shaded patriarchy and worldview are visible from the very first dialogue in that ‘suhaagraat’ room when he asks his wife about the gifts she unpacked, and Richa lists out all the kitchen utilities. “Sare gifts tumhare liye hi hain shayad,” announces Diwakar very casually!
Mrs. Movie Review: Star Performance
Sanya Malhotra and Nishant Dahiya, shine in their parts. While Sanya, as the struggling wife, gets all the sympathy, Nishant, as the patriarch’s husband, gets all the hate. But the film performs because of the director Arati Kadav. Mrs has been very thought upon as the title for the film, and Arati Kadav makes sure to play brilliantly with symbols. Titling a film, Mrs clearly shows how unimportant it is to know the identity of a woman. She can simply do it and pass it with a Mrs tag! The film is strictly not meant for entertainment. It makes you feel uncomfortable with every passing day while Richa makes her entire life about pleasing two men in her house, in the absence of the mother-in-law, trying to fill in, making food that could cajole their egos and expecting a smile/acknowledgment or validation in return which never arrives!
It starts getting darker with every passing frame and scene, turning into a horror story about a woman who is as good as a ‘Bai’ who also offers sex in the night! No matter how brutal that sounds, it is what it is! A woman taking care of a man who is so tired after a 12-hour shift that he can’t even hold his lunchbox as soon as he enters the house and hands it to his wife! A woman is sent on a guilt trip by an angered father-in-law to avoid him while she is having her me-time.
Interestingly, we do not even realize, what does Richa do apart from the cooking. Is she literate? Did she have a job? Except for her name, we get no information about her, except for the fact, that she is not very well-equipped with the kitchen stuff – her only job in her new life! And this kitchen duty turns into a full time job when her father-in-law bickers about her not ‘dusting’ the house, shooting his allergies!
Mrs. Movie Review: Direction, Music
After a time, I bet you will start hating this film, just because of how it makes you feel. Women might start hating it since they would connect so much that it might trigger them and shoot their anxieties, while men will hate it because they might not even understand what the problem the film is trying to address. The best part is that even mothers and fathers will not like it, and here is my basic problem with this film.
In a film of almost 2+ hrs, we see a woman struggling to adjust to her new married life, with no support from her in-laws and husband and we sympathize with her. We might cry buckets while watching it and villainizing ‘sasural,’ ‘marriage,’ and in-laws. My problem lies with the film’s treatment, which turns the daily routine of a woman into a sympathy-seeking story. And, no, I am not asking questions about who is right or who is wrong, but my problem is the delusional Mrs might create yet again.
A delusion that educated women have a problem with household chores, which might lead to another misconception – the basic reason for a dysfunctional marriage and divorce is girls from this generation not wanting to do household chores. The problem with Sanya Malhotra’s Richa is not getting acknowledged. Her problem is an unavailable husband who cannot spare 10 minutes of his day apart from the sex, to sit and discuss life with his wife. Her problem is not getting validation for her efforts and not getting the basic respect and assurance she needs while her husband’s cousin casually cracks jokes about her cooking. Her problem is the bottled-up emotions in a woman who keeps pleasing her husband and in-laws, getting dejected and crying but being told that she cannot be a crybaby!
However, all these problems, which should have come out strongly in the film, act as undercurrents. No one addresses them, and it becomes all about a woman who is cooking and unable to handle the house chores. It would be hardly noticed that this is the same woman who, in the very first scene, is surprised at her husband asking for his daily clothes and slyly takes a dig at him – “Kapde pehna bhi dun?” And that is the problem with the film, and probably, the action-reaction mechanics are so shadowed that you only see a woman reacting like a 10, but you never see the action of the same force.
Mrs. Movie Review: The Last Word
Arati Kadav brilliantly takes the film forward with symbolism. There is a leaking tap that has been leaking, and while Richa tries to make it work, she one day surrenders and starts ignoring it. From mopping the spillage every time, asking her husband to help technically, to finally placing a bucket under the leaking tap and forgetting about it, director Arati sadly summarizes every woman’s life! She is trying to solve a problem, but when she needs a helping hand and doesn’t get one, she just surrenders. All that is left is a waiting period when the bucket will be filled. Then the woman has two options – either she throws the water at the right time and keeps the bucket back, or the water overflows and creates a bigger mess! None of them should be an ideal option, but women tend to choose both!
The film ends with a hard-hitting dialogue – “Pehla phulka kabhi kabhi jal jaata hai doosra hamesha accha banta hai,” making my worst fears and every woman’s worst fear come true – she is replaceable. Very easily. And the treatment of the film has triggered my worst fear – Men are not going to understand the problem because it is clearly not being addressed in the film, despite a woman telling him that she feels like a house-help! My worst fear is that mothers and mothers-in-law might not understand the gravity here because Richa would pass as just another Gen-Z girl who does not want to do the household chores. And my worst fear comes alive in the climax of the film – No one addresses or resolves the issue! Absolutely no one! All of them just escape, and a new Richa arrives at everyone’s service. Are women really that easy a replacement? The film never answers! It just makes you feel bad for a woman and sympathize with her, but sympathy is not what a woman needs. Sympathy is something that no one should need except for animals and plants.
2.5 + 0.5 stars for sympathy!
Mrs. Trailer
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