As a society, when we can’t put women in a box, we often use a predictable and largely overused term to describe them — messy. The word, somehow, acts as an all-encompassing crutch to encapsulate everything about these women that we can’t put a finger on. In small-town India (though that may be a limiting demographic to cite on our part), a woman who not only refuses to be helpless, fragile or vulnerable, but also cocks a snook at so-called community norms is often branded a “daayan”.
That is the description that Rekha has had to live with all her life. A sensation among her (male) neighbours ever since she stepped into Adarsh Colony as a young bride, Rekha’s sleeveless blouses, come-hither looks and bold walk and talk (read: the desire to be a single, independent woman who derides judgment and doesn’t feel the need to explain herself or her actions) have given rise to loose talk, unfounded suspicion and strong rumours that she not only preys on men sexually, but also makes quick work of them, the urban legend being that their skeletons are stashed beneath the bed of marigolds in her garden.
Rekha — played with bold abandon by Madhuri Dixit, and benefiting from the veteran actor’s natural elegance — couldn’t care less. She not only makes no effort to clear the sullied scuttlebutt surrounding her, but she also gleefully feeds the gossip. The women look at her with disdain, the men with suppressed (or not) desire, but Rekha remains Rekha — carefree, brazen, autonomous, often titillating.... She is the kind of woman who seems to have directly walked out of the pages of a pulpy read.
Director Suresh Triveni — the man who has built contrasting female-first worlds in Tumhari Sulu and Jalsa — crafts an amusingly inventive dramedy with Maa Behen, a film that celebrates the joys of boisterous, rebellious women.
Rekha is not alone. Cut from the same cloth as their mother are her two daughters — Jaya (Triptii Dimri) and Sushma (debutant Dharna Durga). The Netflix film kicks open with Jaya, seemingly the most traditional of the three, whose marriage is in a shambles, but she is bravely weathering it. Even if that means tolerating an uncouth husband (Shardul Bhardwaj plays Manas) and a demanding family. At last count, Jaya has made 1,27,755 rotis for her in-laws since marriage, and has now reached a point where she doesn’t want to look at her husband or another roti again. Rounding off the trio is Sushma, whose quick-fix to fame is stamped with Gen-Z familiarity — she is a certified “Reels paglu” who isn’t averse to putting out the more than occasional risque post to grab eyeballs.
The equation between the three women, who are similar in ways more than one, is however, sticky. Jaya and Sushma have been forever at each other’s throats (for reasons quite justified on the part of the former) and Rekha’s audacious ways keep her daughters away from her. Till one night, when a terrified Rekha makes an SOS call to her daughters — there is a dead body in her home and she needs their help to dispose it off.
Cleverly told through the lens and the framework of a juicy, exploitative Sansani-like crime show (named “Khalbali” in the film), where the host — the familiar face of Shrivardhan Trivedi pops up on TV screens and often even breaks the fourth wall — Maa Behen narrates the mother and daughters’ stories in a tone both sensationalist and hilarious. Triveni employs a heightened tone and treatment, with the players — both prinicipal and secondary — gamely giving into the nautanki look and feel of the narrative (written by Triveni and Pooja Tolani) to tell a story that involves multiplied chaos and farcical improvisation.
Maa Behen is the sharpest when it dials up the satire, with the most entertaining scenes involving what comes across as organic bickering, crescendoing in intensity, volume and astutely placed humour between the three women. Madhuri, of course, is the pick of the lot, whose impertinence and sauciness as Rekha is expertly carried off by the actor, and often seems a cheeky subversion of the image that has largely defined her on screen. Rekha leans into her reputation — we are left guessing whether it is true or not, but she, of course, doesn’t care — with the maa as well as the behen(ein) never being above board in getting their way out through lies and manipulation. These are real women, and the film — though it falters a little in the end portions in trying to somewhat redeem Rekha, Jaya and Sushma — celebrates them with flourish.
The tonal ingenuity of Maa Behen lies in its campiness, with every actor reveling in it. Ravi Kishan as the lecherous neighbour Gupta, around whom a major portion of the action is centred, is expectedly top notch. As also are Geetanjali Kulkarni as Gupta’s hilariously censorious wife, Arunoday Singh as the himbo cop with a soft spot for Jaya, and Shardul Bhardwaj, the find of indie picks like Eeb Allay Ooo! and Bhonsle, delivering an excellent against-type performance. .
But it is the women in Maa Behen who form its backbone, much like women in life, community and society... no matter how we choose to brand them.
I liked/ didn’t like Maa Behen because... Tell t2@abp.in