Maa-Behen Review: In Madhuri Dixit and Triptii Dimri’s acidic satire, being a woman is enough to be guilty

The saying often goes, Kuch toh log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna (People will always say something, it’s their job).

And the lazy justification is compounded, when it comes to women behavioural codes, morality. It’s the premise of Netflix’s satirical and acidic film, Maa Behen. The title can be interpreted in several ways: One as the typical slur that you can’t escape, if you grew up in North India, and the other, the phrase oft used ‘Ghar mein maa behen nahin hain kya? (Don’t you have a mother and sister at home), to rebuke men who behave inappropriately with women. And that, effectively shuts the door on a woman’s individuality and agency: Instead of seeing them as just human beings, they’re roles.

It’s this thread that is wound around Maa Behen. A stunning Madhuri Dixit plays Rekha, a widow, who is called a witch by her neighbourhood, owing to her sleeveless blouses, curls and enticing smile. Men make lewd comments about her and even scrawl unsavoury words on her house, yet, she is still the ‘dayan’ (witch).

She’s a witch, because she doesn’t dress differently after her husband’s death. She chose to have a second child out of wedlock. The film subtly defines society’s idea of a witch: A woman who doesn’t fit into the ‘normal’ mould prescribed for them.

 And, unfortunately, her daughters, Sushma (a fantastic Tripti Dimri), and Jaya (Dharna Durga), have carried these seeds of doubt and shame about their mother too, as turbulent outburst halfway through the film exposes. Both daughters too, are a victim of patriarchy and the male gaze too: Sushma doles out roti after roti for the men in her household, with brother-in-law triplets just shouting out ‘Bhabhi, roti!’. Her only refuge is playing violent games on the phone. On the other hand, Jaya is an influencer, and has to deal with the baggage that comes along with online fame.

In other words, each of the women, Rekha, Jaya, Sushma (a witty callback to the old washing powder ad that echoed through households at one point), are viewed as callous, evil, manipulative women, with society pitying the ‘poor men’. Our anchor, Shrivardhan Trivedi of Sansani fame, parodies himself and his crime show, by describing the vices of all the women. They’re smiling, confident, men are attracted to them and that’s always enough to shame a woman. Jaya is believed to have stolen someone else’s groom, and Sushma is trolled because of embracing a man. The man gets away, but Sushma doesn’t. The hypocrisy and double-standards of society reverberate through the film.

Nevertheless, the story unfolds through the eyes of the women, when the daughters get a harrowed and tearful phone call from their mother in the middle of the night. Rekha keeps weeping without getting to the point, rambling about other things, frustrating both girls, till she finally brings herself to say: There’s a body in her house. To be honest, it’s one of the best beginnings in a film; it’s fresh, funny and actually used Madhuri Dixit’s comic timing, something Bollywood has failed to do till now.

From then on, both Jaya and Sushma rush to help out their mother. It’s not an easy task; the neighbours are watching and intrusive, especially the wife of the ‘dead’ man, living across the road, who suspects the family. In the midst of all the tensions of hiding a body, Jaya’s husband, a less-than-hygienic lay about shows up at the house. Yet, rage breaks free from Sushma finally in one of the best scenes of the film, as she thrashes him around with a slipper.

It’s the rage of a woman who has toiled for a man for years, only to be treated like a servant. A woman, who has slaved for the entire family, by cleaning and cooking for them---not by choice, but only due to a cruel misunderstanding and desperation to save a smeared reputation. The truth is, like the women before her, she tried to conform and accept her fate but she lost herself in the process.

Maa Behen makes you laugh, and it makes you squirm. It’s uncomfortable, messy and flawed just like the women that society could never fathom.  It digs deep into the ‘log toh kahenge kuch’ attitudes, which nefariously condition people into trying to slot women into categories.

In Maa Behen, no one is ever just a woman. She is a witch, a wife, a daughter, a scandal, a headline, anything but herself. And in a world that insists on naming her before it sees her, even silence begins to look suspicious.