“Maja Ma”, directed by Anand Tiwari and written by Sumit Batheja is a socially significant take on evolving families and progressive societies. It casts Madhuri Dixit as the main lead who is an influential woman and a mother of two grown-ups. We have Simone Singh, Srishti Srivastava, Gajraj Rao, Ritwik Bhoumik and Barkha Singh playing parallel roles.
It follows the story of a woman who has her own deep embedded personal struggles and is yet the perfect mother to her children and the perfect wife to her husband. She is an all-rounder, the most infamous member of her social circle. Life turns upside down for her and her children when she unfolds the unaccepted parts of herself.
The film revolves around personal struggles in a revolutionary world. As a part of huge generational changes, we are the flag bearers of change for most significant concerns but are we truly ready to face our own dilemmas? The story attempts to beautifully touch our hearts by scripting the concept around a mother.
From the very beginning, the theme of the film has been warm in a way that intendedly puts us in a family zone. It looks like the temperament of the lighting used is mellow. It somewhere slows down the pace of the film. Nonetheless, “Maja Ma” is entirely character driven where all the characters are strong headed and opinionated. It makes the setting and the storyline interesting and constructive. It is unconventional yet traditional. The personal take on most of the issues makes the film heartfelt. Whether it’s about the LQBTQI right or unsatisfied and layered married lives, you manage to hold an emotional connect to them.
A few parts of the film just stays with you. The woman-to-woman conversation on the ropeway is expected and common from a viewer point of view but one would still look forward to it. Gajaraj Rao adds the much needed lightness to the lives of his family members and the audience. His naïve conversation about his sex life and the honest efforts in winning his wife back for one thing surely is adoring.
Alongside the story that looks like one from amongst ours, the political NRI angle to the to-be in-laws gets overdone. You acquire the dis-likeness towards Barkha Singh’s accent as the film progresses. However, it may not be much distracting because it does not outweigh our interest in the main script progression.
The traditional visuals and the subject matter definitely makes the film well made. And for those very reasons, one must watch the film to sensitize themselves and look inwards for the change that we are intending to make in the society.
“Maja Ma” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
