Maja Ma movie review: Remember Vishal Bharadwaj's Dedh Ishqiya? Personally, I felt cheated with the ending when it flirted with a 'more than just friends' possibility between Huma Qureshi and Madhuri Dixit but didn't explore it. Maja Ma is a flawed yet important, engaging and a superior upgrade of the same. Maja Ma: Madhuri Dixit Nene, Barkha Singh and Others Share Fun Moments From Their Family Film Shoot

Pallavi Patel (Madhuri Dixit) has an uncomplicated married life. Her husband Manohar Patel (Gajraj Rao) dotes on her, she is a superhero to her son Tejas (Ritwik Bhowmick) and has a blow-hot-blow-cold equation with her activist daughter Tara (Srishti Srivastava). But their seemingly perfect life goes for a toss when in a fit of anger Pallavi blurts out her well-kept secret of 30 years. That puts everything in jeopardy from Tejas' wedding with Esha Hansraj (Barkha Singh), the daughter of a rich and influential NRI, Bob (Rajit Kapoor) and Pam (Sheeba Chaddha) to Pallavi's own existence. As if that's not enough, in comes her secret-keeper since childhood Kanchan (Simone Singh).

These days it's pretty rare to read a name in the credits and feel assured of a good outcome. Anand Tiwari is such a rare name. Be it Bang Bajaa Baraat or Bandish Bandits or Love Per Square Feet, he perfectly projects urban sentiments around every topic. There's always something to takeaway from his movies. With Maja Ma, I take away the fact that we don't have to settle for tokenism in the garb of representation in movies, we just need better writers and directors.

Special mention to Sumit Bhateja, the writer of the film who lets the story build on its own rather than inserting heightened moments for kicks. It works because the twists and turns are smoothly woven in the narrative.

But where Maja Ma scores is it perhaps is the most balanced story I have watched this year. There's a representative from every section of the society airing out their views on the topic. Even when there's an LGBTQIA+ activist involved, it never tries to put them on a pedestal and vilify the non-allies, or for that  matter, it doesn't even give a clean chit to the people who are fighting this battle. In fact, Maja Ma demonstrates so much restrain over the issue by sending out a message that at the end of the day, it's all about choices and the person will make that choice, not the people around them, even if best intentions are at heart.

Also, I am so glad that the women of the '90s are finally getting their due.  Madhuri Dixit's Pallavi is both powerful, strong and sensitive. While the men from that decade are still stuck in the period limited by their primitive understanding of stardom, the actresses of that era are taking up promising roles. Such a wonderful time to be in the industry, thanks to the OTT boom.

Now coming to some obvious flaws. Accents of the entire Hansraj clan are the biggest joke or maybe it was meant to be so. I am not sure what was the need to have an NRI family in the mix. Any high society SOBO (South Bombay) people would have done an equally good job. At least then the fake accents wouldn't have seemed so out of place. It sort of reminds me of all those movies from the early 2000s where the NRIs were demonised for lack of morals, conscience and Indian values in every movie. It takes a lot of effort not to ditch movie midway because of this disturbing element.

At the end, Tejas praises his girlfriend Esha for being more mature than him but that never comes across in character building. She is just shown as a cushion to soften the blow between her family and the Patels. Quite a lame way of treating an important character.

Furthermore, the ending isn't really a worthy culmination of the fascinating story. I won't delve much on it lest I give away the secret. Only thing I would like to say here is 'Aasmaan ko zameen, ye zaruri nahi jaa mile' in the words of a hit Arijit Singh number! Madhuri Dixit Nene on Maja Ma: Engaging but Not Preachy, It Will Stay With Audience for a Long Time.

Watch The Trailer Of Maja Ma:

Performances are the biggest assets of this film. Madhuri Dixit as Pallavi is simply brilliant. She breezes through the highs and lows of her character with such ease that you feel proud of rooting for her since the 90s. As for Simone Singh, give Camilla from Kal Ho Na Ho an earthy desi look and non-gold digger attributes! She is the STAR of the film. Gajraj Rao is adorable even when he is showing angst or hurt. Ritwik is my favourite OTT hero and that feeling continues with this too. Srishti Srivastava's fiery performance is so convincing that you will often find yourself aligning with her views despite having misgivings.

Yay!

-Anand Tiwari, the director

-Simple and balanced narration

-Performances

Nay!

-Disturbing accents

-Not-so-great ending

Final Thoughts

Maja Ma might come across as a frothy film cashing in on the Navratri vibe and Madhuri Dixit's dance skills. But it's so much more than that! Maja Ma is a movie that should be a part of everybody's watch list this weekend. Maja Ma streams on Amazon Prime.

Rating:3.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 06, 2022 12:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).