Cast: Rekha, Randhir Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Anupam Kher
Rating: 1 star (only for Rekha)
With Super Nani, that revolves around the most powerful character in Bollywood, the ‘Maa’, or as it is in this case, the ‘Maa’ ki Maa, director Inder Kumar seems to have attempted to show everyone how versatile he can really be. His last was Grand Masti, remember? So from ‘teri maa ki…’ territory to ‘ek maa ki dastaan’, Kumar’s transformation has been noteworthy. There was a time in the 90s, during his Beta days when Kumar made it clear that yes, he knows a thing or two about social dramas. But unless one is making a period film, I wonder why would they cling on to the past? In terms of the story, the acting, the writing, costumes, music, production design and pretty much everything else one can think of, Super Nani is a trip down memory lane, the bad memory lane mind you, a time when we were not very proud of the cinema we were making. So then why revisit a traumatic past and take a veteran gem like Rekha with you?
Rekha, however, gives her all to the role of a housewife, Bharti Bhatia, whose home is full of obnoxious and disrespectful family members, the kinds you see on prime time television. It’s patriarchy at its worst, where everyone reminds her to go back to the kitchen every five minutes, almost like an alarm on snooze. And they scream, throughout the film, as if their lives depended on their decibels. Welcome to the lowest low of Bollywood dubbing. Sharman Joshi plays Mann Mehra, Rekha’s NRI grandson from NYC. He plays a magician (photographer) who transforms his nani’s life with the help of a DSLR camera.
Mann shoots her portfolio and Bharti, the middle-aged housewife, metamorphoses into a supermodel literally overnight. The money and fame that follows, (and this is serious money by the way, where she tosses around a crore of rupees like loose change), are used to teach her insufferable family a lesson. Sharman is also there in the film to introduce the most grating American Born Confused Desi accent. It’s painful to see the talented 3 Idiots actor doing something that’s actually so idiotic. Rekha’s transformation from a doormat to a supermodel seems more unreal than Sharman’s accent. But the megastar makes it watchable and her stunning makeover is rather Khoon Bhari Maang-ish. It’s amazing to see her still able to pull that off, making us forget the decades that have gone by ever since.
Randhir Kapoor manages a passable comeback as the villainous husband. Anupam Kher is his usual hammy self that he reserves for films like these. Shreya Narayan is convincing as Rekha’s fussy, insensitive daughter-in-law who aspires to become an actress. Shweta Kumar as Sharman’s love interest is entirely forgettable as are the others.
The film is based on Imtiyaz Patel’s Gujarati play Baa Ae Maari Boundary and in adapting it on the big screen the makers seem to have retained the theatrical devices, right from the very stage-like sets to the loud melodramatic dialogue delivery. And sitting in the twilight of 2014, the film delivers the farcical ‘pati parmeshwar’ message with such conviction that it makes you doubt the calendar.
Just two years ago there was another film based on a similar theme of a housewife who is not respected by her family. She’s treated with condescension and she takes it upon herself to make a few changes in her so that her family looks up to her. Like Rekha in Super Nani, her world too revolved around her insensitive family. I am talking about Sridevi in English Vinglish.
Mr Kumar’s intentions in Super Nani maybe good, but this is 2014 where the audience is used to a certain standard of message delivery. Think English Vinglish, think Queen, think Highway. The finest shades of ‘women empowerment’ in Hindi cinema. You cannot wish these away and pretend you have done enough with a preachy, contrived session on family values.
