Maja Ma (2022)
8/10
Maja ma
14 October 2022
Maja ma is a comedy drama film directed by anand tiwari.

Madhuri dixit is in fine form. She delivers an earnest and powerful performance. Her eyes do speak a language. Her body language is still graceful and comprehnsive. I loved her in this movie. Gajraj rao too shines in this film. He is a chameleon who is finally getting his due. Ritwick bhowmick is a wonderful performer. His scenes with madhuri do speak a volume. Srishti srivastava is good in her limited screentime. I did not like the loud performances by rajit kapoor and sheeba chadda. Moreover, they were sporting a fake accent which made it worse. Sheeba shines only when she talks in punjabi towards the end. That was more effective. Only barkha singh looked a bit authentic. Simone singh is also pretty good.

This film does ask the right questions about the LGBTQIA+ issue. Especially at the end, the mentality of most people about being lesbian is fleshed out. The difference between love and mere sex. But again, it does get preachy sometimes. Like, tara(sristi) always in her loud voice tries to educate everyone about the taboo and the delicate matter. Rather, it should have been more authentic and organic. The film shows the true nature of NRIs and how they are more conservative than us indians. So, the writing at concept level is pretty solid.

But the film falters mainly at the screenplay level. How does a man 20 ft. Apart hear a conversation between two women? How is it possible? Even if he listens a bit, how does he comrehend the whole thing? Also, the staging of the big revelation of pallavi's 'coming out' is half baked. At the end of first half, the film wanders here and there in order to introduce the new characters. The whole comedy about sambhogra is also very lame. The comedy barely feels organic.

The cinematography is decent. Gujarat has always been vibrant in movies and is the same here. There is one shot which i liked specifically. When the revelation happens, it is staged around the closet which is metaphorical. The music is beautiful. 'Boom tadi' by shreya ghoshal is exquisitely sung and is a beautiful composition. Same can be said about 'ae pagli'. 'Kacchi doriyaan' is soulful too. The bgm is decent.

This film has a lot of moments which will surely touch you. There is one scene between gajraj and madhuri. Hell of a scene! Legendary actors akways work a way out of delivering meaningful sequences.

This is a film which despite its flaws can touch you. I rate it 7.75 out of 10.
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