Directed by Ashima Chibber
Written by Sameer Satija, Ashima Chibber, and Rahul Handa
Cinematography by Alvar Kõue
Edited by Namrata Rao
Music by Amit Trivedi
Have you experienced how worried your mother would get when you, as a child, stayed late at your friend’s place without informing her? Have you seen her stay up all night until you reach home safely? Have you noticed the number of calls she makes to her child daily to ensure her child is safe and sound? Well, folks, that’s a mother, and she will do anything in the world to keep you safe, even if that means battling out with an entire nation. Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway is a gut-wrenching emotional story of a mother blazing guns against a whole system.
Plot, Pace & Writing:
Mrs. Chatterjee Vs. In the initial few minutes, Norway hits the top gear and sets the same tone as the movie. Following is a stew of emotions kept on a slow burner extracting flavors from every ingredient. Writer/ Director Ashima Chibber isn’t serving fast food; instead, she skillfully peels off slices of her characters and lets them marinate at their own pace. The story moves at a decent pace with a couple of hiccups here and there and gets more tempting towards the end.
The writers have managed to shine the helplessness of their lead character Debika Chatterjee played by Rani Mukerji, who is in a foreign country with a husband having misplaced priorities, an unjust, greedy Child Welfare Service hell-bent on snatching her children, and a system that was meant to protect rights is providing legal cover fire for what looks like a state-sponsored kidnapping to reap benefits mostly out of immigrants. These sub-plots tightly fit together to deliver a high-octane drama that will keep you glued to the screen, and probably your heart may lose a couple of beats.
Performances:
It would be unjust of us, just like the Norwegian Child Welfare Service, if we only praise Rani Mukerji as Debika Chatterjee for her performance. This film is genuinely blessed with notable supporting characters like Anirban Bhattacharya, playing the role of Debika’s husband, and Jim Sarbh as Debikas’s defense lawyer. Anirban successfully pulls off an image of a selfish, money-minded, and self-righteous husband. On the contrary, every time Rani would speak out of turn in courts, the frown on Jim Sarbh’s face was a treat to watch.
However, Rani Mukerji steals the show and is undoubtedly the chef of this recipe. Of course, this recipe could have gone wrong if there was even a pinch of overacting or underacting. But, the intelligent and experienced Rani Mukerji is, she added just enough subtleness to her character, which has worked exceptionally well for this film.
Final Verdict:
Based on the real-life story of Sagarika Chakraborty, Mrs. Chatterjee Vs. Norway hits the ground running and slowly burns for a while. It lets the cruelty of real-world insensitive humans sink in to serve you a recipe made of emotions that finds your way to the heart. Rani Mukerji as a mother estranged from her children, deserves a massive shout-out as she exceedingly convinces us of what it feels like to be in her shoes.
Although there was room for improvement on specific scene structures, they could have been made tighter and more gripping, but what we saw was good enough and touched our hearts.
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