Angry women and mom centric films
are not new. So are not dramatic tales avenging rape. Reel sooner than we
imagine imitates real and rape thus is inevitable to be played on and on, on
our screen and stated in our literature. We today celebrate every format of the
wronged woman- in all its possible perversity in our drawing rooms. From early
evening to late night. This rape avenging anarchist is Mom.
Devaki (Sreedevi) shares a precarious relationship with her daughter Arya
(Sajal) who is a rape victim. When the rapists go scot free Mom decides on
vendetta with the assistance of the local detective DK (Nawazuddin) and on
trail in cop Francis (Akshay Khanna). In 148 minutes respect for women is
established by breaking the law.
You know from the promos that this is going to be high watts. Sreedevi is
feeling the waters slowly, steadily. First as the middle class woman (English
Vinglish) and now the Mom with a blood spilling agenda. Her acting skills still
get mired in dramatics that may be tad out of sync with the times. Coquettish
to a fault marketed on a huge myth that mixes success with talent. In sharp
contrast is Nawazuddin an actor par excellence who just requires screen space
to leave a lasting impression. One would never know whether it is temperament
or logistics that deprives the audience of watching the extremely talented
Akshay Khanna more often.
The entire first half is laboured to establish the stained relationship between
the Mother and her step daughter. A crisper end product would have ensued if
only the narrative avoided this meandering. It is only when the Vendetta part
kicks start and the Tom and Jerry act between Francis and Deepika gets going
that the narrative gets viewable. Till then Ravi Udayawar (the Director)
believes Mom is Sridevi’s burden and she fails to give the punch the role
demands of her.
The problem with Mom is that there is just too much of Sridevi in the film.
Stardust collects on the script and the narrative is as fresh as yesterday’s
newspaper. While the frill cast- including the likes of Nawazuddin, Akshay,
Adnan Siddiqui turn out sincere efforts and labour effectively to overcome
characters poorly conceived and etched, the principle character is too full of
star material. With due apologies to the huge fan follow, this Mom fails to
make the mark.
The least Mom could have done is watched Mother India and Neeraja to emote like
the Mother or Zakmi Aurat and learnt what the anger and hurt of rape means from
Dimple Kapadia.
Mom reeks of an anarchist solution to handle a serious socio emotional issue
and trivialises it with the message that women can outcome men and avenge
predators. If only…. Well that is for another day.
L. Ravichander.