Producers: Boney Kapoor, Ensemble, Zee Studios and Mad Films
Director: Ravi Udyawar
Star Cast: Sridevi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pitobash Truipathy, Akshaye Khanna , Sajal Ali and Adnan
Genre: Vendetta
Rating: **1/2
Predictable!
Atrocities against women and rapes are once again the issue of our directors and ad filmmaker Ravi Udyawar has attempted to project such an issue in his debut film ‘Mom’. Portrayed excellently by Sridevi playing the caring sensitive Devki Agarwal, mother of two girls, foster mother of a girl Arya who is a teenager (Sajal Ali) raped by a group of unruly boys who set out to teach their teacher Sridevi a lesson for disciplining them. The court releases the boys for lack of evidence but the girls mom takes revenge on them one by one.
The Minus Points:
This film is like revisiting ‘Maatr’, ‘Pink’, ‘Insaaf Ka Tarazu’,’Aaj Ki Aawaz’, the super successful Death Wish Franchise.
The Plus Points:
Nawazuddin Siddique is excellent as DK, a private detective who aids Sridevi .Akshaye Khanna plays a brooding strong cop Matthew Francis and knows about Sridevi’s revenge tale but silently supports her. Pakistani star Adnan Siddiqui plays the suave husband Anand, of Devki and the father of two daughters very well. Sajal Ali acts well and does justice to her difficult role. Abhimanyu Singh makes a chilling villain. Pitobash Tripathy deservesmuch more . Anay Goswam is camera work in which he has captured the Delhi night locations beautifully and especially his depiction of the gruesome rape in a closed car riding alone silently on the highway with eerie back ground music is simply superb. Udyavar has been able to draw an extraordinary performance from Sridevi especially in her emotional scenes.
The Verdict:
Though predictable, It is a film to be seen for the superb performances of Sridevi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
-Jyothi Venkatesh
