Sridevi is back on the silver screen yet again after her stellar performance in the box office hit English Vinglish. Mom, a thriller has Sridevi directed by debutant Ravi Udyawar and produced by Boney Kapoor has set the audience pulse racing.
The plot of mom is simple as you can get, it is a revenge saga and with earlier movies like the brilliant Drishyam in Malayalam and the intense Pink from Bollywood having set high standards it definitely is a huge task to match them. While Mom begins course very promisingly, it somehow loses focus when the script starts paying too much attention to Sridevi. The script now revolves around Sridevi and this is where the movie starts getting shaky. The contrived logic and the cliché scenes get a bit tiring and the expected formulaic end does not help either. Mom has its moments but very far and few.
Sridevi does not put a foot wrong, with a de-glam look she looks convincing in a strikingly contrasting performance that we are used to seeing in cinema today. There is no subtlety when she emotes and yet there is dignity all around. The hugely talented Nawazuddin in a buffoon get up is left to manage with the crumbs and yet he delivers. Akshaye Khanna keeps springing up now and then to remind us that he is part of the film, while Sajal Ali is Kareena Kapoor personified in looks as well as acting. The others hardly matter.
What keeps Mom ticking is the wonderful team behind the scenes, cinematography by Anay Goswami is top notch while ARR keeps elevates the scenes with his back ground score. The dialogues are good while the editing is effective. Direction for a debutant is very crafty.
Mom is a letdown in writing. The loose ends, the hurried court scenes and the lack of intensity turn Mom into a very ordinary film.
MOM – MURMUR !!
2.5/5
B.U.Shreesha.
