Maja Ma Review: A silly social-comedy that goes flat.

Maja Ma is a package of love, drama, comedy, and a social issue all at once. It is the first Indian film to release on Amazon Prime Video. The film has a long list star cast- Madhuri Dixit Nene, Gajraj Rao, Ritwik Bhowmik, Shrishti Srivastava, Barkha Singh, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajit Kapoor, and Simone Singh. The film is directed by Anand Tiwari, who worked in films like Go Goa Gone, Barfi, Finding Fanny, Love Per Square Foot and many more.

Pallavi Patel(played by Madhuri Dixit Nene) is a middle-class, middle-aged woman who is a dutiful homemaker, a devoted wife and a loving mother. She is also a dancer and an incredible artist. She is a goddess figure in her family. Her radical daughter Tara Patel(Shrishti Srivastava)  is a social worker for the LGBTQ community. While having a screaming argument, Pallavi’s confession slips from her tongue that she is a lesbian. The plot revolves around the wedding of Pallavi’s son Tejas Patel(played by Ritwik Bhowmik) and Esha Hansraj(played by Barkha Singh). Tejas is a middle-class Gujarati boy living in New York for his studies, and Esha is an NRI who was born and brought up in America. Esha’s parents visit Baroda in Gujarat at Tejas’s house to discuss their marriage and engagement. 

So, it’s Navratri time, and there is a dance performance by Pallavi, after which a video of her confession on her sexual identity is intentionally played by someone, which brings both families into a problematic situation. 

The film’s writing includes unnecessary staged comedy and too many problems, sometimes distracting from the film’s central issue. The film talks about being open about sexual orientation and its acceptance, but many sub-plots are created that are loosely connected to the main plot. 

What I like about the writing is the relationship between the mother and her son(Pallavi and Tejas). Knowing about his mother’s identity, no matter how caring her son is, he gets selfish and embarrassed. There is a scene in which he takes Pallavi to a priest who claims to remove the so-called “disease” of homosexuality. We have often seen parents taking their children to the priest for this reason. But this is the first time I have noticed a Millennial boy taking his mother for such activities. This shows that the generation gap is not an issue of being open-minded about something.

Every character in the film has an arc. Tejas wants to get married to Esha, but his mother’s secret is troubled in between. Manohar struggles to have a good married life with his wife, whereas Bob wants to win American elections and save his reputation. Pam pretends to be like an American but cannot let her Punjabiness go and, most importantly, Pallavi. The latter deals with being open about her identity, family pressure, and societal politics, which creates a quicksand moment for her, making it almost impossible for her to conclude. In a scene, Manohar takes medicine for sexual stamina and gets an erection in a public place, due to which another man stands in front of him to save his embarrassment. 

It’s Madhuri Dixit because of who makes the narrative engaging. Other than her, there are barely any memorable moments. Everything else is staged terribly—the relationship between Pallavi and her husband, Manohar Patel(Gajraj Rao) and their romance shines a bit. Still, their Gujrati accents come and go like the wind. Similarly, Pam(Sheeba Chaddha) and her husband Bob(Rajit Kapoor) bring a very fake American accent. You couldn’t digest that Bob is an American-bought-up man. Sheeba Chaddha is always watchable in all of her films, but this one gave nothing much for her to do.

A song on which Pallavi performs called ‘Boom Padi‘ is one of my favourites for the Navratri playlist. It is a song composed by Souumil and Siddharth and sung by Shreya Ghoshal. 

The film’s cinematography captures all the emotions, which looks like an artistic portrait. Almost every frame is filled with colour, which gives a festive vibe.

The lack of details and lazy plot make Maja Ma a forgettable story but Madhuri Dixit’s performance stands out.