Movie Review: Mimi

critic’s rating: 



3.5/5

Mother’s day out

Marathi movie Mala Aai Vhaychay (2011), directed by Samruddhi Porey, was released a decade ago. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi. It tackled the taboo subject of foreigners hiring Indian girls to be surrogate mothers and was said to be based on a real-life case. Mimi is the official Hindi adaptation of the film. 

Mimi (Kriti Sanon), is a small-time dancer living in a town near Jaipur. She works as a traditional dancer in five star hotels and dreams of making it big in Hollywood some day. One day, a driver, Bhanu Pratap (Pankaj Tripathi) comes to her with a proposal. An american couple, John (Aidan Whytock) and Summer (Evelyn Edwards) want to hire Mimi as a surrogate mother and are willing to pay her 20 lakhs for it. Thinking that she’ll have the money to go settle in Mumbai and pursue her Bollywood dream, she agrees to the proposal. Everything goes hunky dory for a while. She fools her parents into thinking she got an acting job aboard a cruise ship and goes to stay with her friend Shama’s (Sai Tamhankar). Bhanu is appointed as her guardian by the Americans. One day, however, upon finding that she might not have a normal baby, John and Summer run away, leaving her in the lurch. Mimi’s parents too come to know about her pregnancy. She decides to keep the baby nevertheless and slowly, everyone accepts her decision. However, four years later, John and Summer come back to claim their baby Raj (Jacob Smith)…

Director Laxman Utekar has made many changes away from the original film, which was hard hitting and realistic in content. The difficulties a surrogate mother must be facing during her pregnancy in a small town are glossed over here. Mimi is surrounded by understanding folks who are woke enough to accept her predicament and support her. While this kind of utopian behaviour is laudable and should be encouraged, this is not something that will actually happen in our society. The film really comes into its own when the child gets born and the bond between the mother and child gets established. The film is based on the premise that a child gives birth to a mother. Mimi, who had originally done it all for the money, leaves aside her dreams and becomes a loving, caring, full-time mom to her son. She’s content in just bringing him up and wants nothing more from life. Raj is Mimi’s world and she can’t part with him, even when it becomes obvious that she’s legally bound to do so. 

The film is buoyed by some rock-solid performances. Evelyn Edwards and Aidan Whytock leave their mark as an American couple who want a baby at any cost. Evelyn, in particular, is the very picture of a distraught woman who desperately wants to experience motherhood. They aren’t painted thankfully as caricatures. Their grief gets humanised as well. Supriya Pathak and Manoj Pahwa speak more with their gestures, their body language than in actual dialogue and yet get their point across.  A little bit of melodrama is involved in their portrayal but it isn’t over the top. Pankaj Tripathi is in top form here as a driver with a conscience. He doesn’t abandon Mimi to her fate and bears up with everything life throws at him to help her. He’s in her corner throughout and the sincerity he generates is palpable. The same can be said of Sai Tamhankar, who plays Mimi’s childhood friend willing to make all sorts of sacrifices for her. Sai’s a reliable hand indeed and does her job admirably well. The film belongs to Kriti Sanon. She’s someone who has been taking calculated risks throughout her career. It’s her most difficult role as yet. She gradually fits into her character and by the end of the film is the very picture of a tigress fiercely guarding her cub. It’s the most mature performance she’s given so far. Her scenes with child actor Jacob Smith are the soul of the film. 

All-in-all, watch the film for its sensitive storyline and for Pankaj Tripathi and Kriti Sanon’s performances…

Read More – Kriti Sanon gains 15 kgs for her role in Mimi

Trailer : Mimi