Maa Behen Review:

A body lies face down on the floor. The named-after-Nirma-ad trio, mother Rekha (Madhuri Dixit) and daughters Jaya (Triptii Dimri) and Sushma (Dharna Durga) look on, contemplating the next step. The options are limited. Hide it in the house? Throw it into the canal? Confess to the cops? Rekha breaks the silence: “Should I make some tea first?” she asks. It’s a family decision after all, has to be made over a piping hot cuppa.

Directed by: Suresh Triveni

Starring: Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri, Dharna Durga, Ravi Kishan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Shardul Bhardwaj and Arunoday Singh

Written by: Pooja Tolani and Suresh Triveni

Streaming on: Netflix

Such quirks abound in director Suresh Triveni’s pulpy crime-comedy Maa Behen. While shuffling around a cupboard to find a cloth to wrap the body in, Jaya picks one but Rekha rejects by saying, “Yeh nahi, yeh shaadi mein mila tha (Not this one. I got this during my wedding). It’s an amusing line, infused with the dailyness of a middle-class household. As if they are picking out clothes to give away rather than using them to conceal a murder.

The body in question is of Gupta ji (Ravi Kishan), the overinvolved neighbour of Rekha, a widow who resides alone in the ironically-named Adarsh colony. Rekha’s sleeveless blouses and her general independence have made her the prime subject of slut-shaming by the society residents. After the mistaken-murder of Gupta ji at her house, she summons her daughters: the sadly-married Jaya and the perpetually-online Sushma to cover up the crime. The siblings have their own share of problems. Jaya has been reduced to a domestic-slave at her in-law’s and constantly receives chidings from her father-in-law over the phone. Sushma, on the other hand, once recreated the Raja Hindustani rain kiss to get more followers and now that reputation follows her everywhere. She also makes cringe-content with Jaya’s husband, her brother-in-law, much to the distaste of her elder sister.

The relatable bickering between the sisters and also often with the mother are the most enjoyable bits of the film. Actors Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri and debutant Dharna Durga play off well with each other. Although Madhuri’s comic act can feel a bit weak when compared to her co-actors’, the star makes up with her glowing presence and her on-point expressions. Triptii on the other hand balances her performance well. Her act never gets overboard in an otherwise often over-the-top comedy. She plays the eldest sister with an enjoyable frustration of being the most sensible of the lot. Dharna too is appropriately irritating as she plays the youngest Sushma. Her reel-skits come in handy as she matches with her two more-experienced colleagues.

The comedy of Maa Behen, however, is both sharp and clumsy. It can take you by surprise at times with a throwaway line but also a relentless gag can leave not much effect. Everybody’s acting is a bit heightened, more slapstick than dark comedy. The film functions better as a domestic dramedy than a crime comedy. It opens with promise but the script loses the plot somewhere in between. The central mystery of what exactly happened to Gupta ji has a long-winded and ludicrous reveal. The film packs a lot and is often unable to deliver on all its wares.

But Maa Behen drives home the point it sets out to do. Beneath all the theatrics, the film criticizes a patriarchal society’s judgemental gaze towards its liberated women. In the beginning it takes on a comic approach as it shows the three women as seductresses trapping men. Later the same scenes are shown from the women’s point of view, turning the accusatory lens towards the viewers themselves. When a character asks Rekha, Jaya and Sushma whether a certain act wouldn’t tarnish their reputation, they ask “What reputation?” before breaking into a never-ending fit of laughter. In another scene, after breaking it off with her loser husband, Jaya relishes on some chicken curry, licking her smeared fingers. Oh, the mirth of witnessing women who just refuse to behave.