Mimi announces the birth of Kriti Sanon - The Actor
Mimi begins with surrogacy but goes into a realm where we ‘see’ the very fabric the Universe is made up of.
Mimi had a very quiet arrival of sorts. As in, Mimi didn’t shake up the internet when it dropped. No one talked about it. At least no one we usually listen to - the tweeters, the influencers, the big wigs of the industry, the people who’re ‘snapped’ here and there, the giants who behave as the very foundation of the film industry. The only people who spoke were the nobodies, the non-existent ones, who aren’t heard at all because their ‘stats’ don’t add up to make them into someone ‘worth’ listening to. And, the small channels that still operate purely on ‘good content’ and good intentions.
But, I don’t want to get into these things because I firmly believe that good content CANNOT be suppressed even if the entire world falls apart. It’s just a basic rule, isn’t it?
When I sat down for this little treat, I did NOT expect anything other than a feel-good entertainer. But this film came like a breeze and ended up creating a storm inside me. Hence, I write.
Mimi is not a single story about a girl who wants to become an actress but ends up becoming a surrogate mother. No. It is the many, many stories that flow within this basic premise that make Mimi a whole. It is a tale of true friendship. It’s a story about parenting. It’s also a story of Life. It about those unspoken, un-labeled bonds, purely running on one fuel - Love. Mimi is essentially a love story about what love is.
The film starts with an American couple touring Rajasthan, who’re in desperate need of a ‘healthy, fit womb’ for their child. Little do they know that they’re going to change destinies of a handful of folks from the small town of Mandawa in Rajasthan. Their driver, Bhanu, played effortlessly by the one and only Pankaj Tripathi helps them in arranging a young girl who can carry their child. But he doesn’t have to, as the couple is already smitten by Mimi, aka Kriti Sanon who’s a dancer in a fort-like palace frequented by the firang travellers. All Bhanu does is convince Mimi to become their surrogate in exchange for money, lots of money.
Mimi, who’s the best looking girl and dancer in the entire Shekhawat area has dreams. Big dreams. She wants to be an actress, romance Ranveer Singh on screen and make every other actress jobless once she is ‘huge.’ Of course, her dream feels like a mirage in the desert as it requires money, lots of money. Hence, the only way out of her own destiny is embracing Bhanu’s offer, not realising that destiny is called Destiny for a reason.
A key thread of this film is the friendship between Mimi and Shama, a singer trained by Mimi’s own father, Mansingh Rathore. Shama, played by Sai Tamhankar, has a pivotal role in everything that’s happening to Mimi, simply by being there for her. Their bond is so strong that despite Mimi saying yes to becoming the surrogate for her crazy-ass Bollywood dream, she is just there for her sans any judgement for her friend. A rock solid support, she knows she can’t affect Mimi’s destiny and chooses to be there for her in the trying times that follow. Why? Simply because she loves Mimi.
And what of Bhanu the driver? Plenty if you think! He’s a non-relative, non-friend, non-anything, yet, a person who has signed up for this ride because he wants to bring happiness to the American couple. He also wants the money he will get in return for this. But, the money aspect keeps diminishing as the film moves along and we see him still there, hanging around, lending his shepherd-like hand to Mimi and her entire family. It’s not an easy role to play from any angle but Pankaj Tripathi is one actor who can play a human without any labels or a defined character. He blends into the background sometimes like a wallpaper, all the while enhancing the film to a new level. Respect.
Mimi’s home is also an interesting one, despite being a typical one. It gives a vibe of the yesteryears galore, where her father, Mansingh Rathore had baithaks of music and everyone applauded. Now, his Gharana and his Ghar have blended into one but he hasn’t given up his music. Manoj Pahwa plays the father with exceptional clarity and nuance, touching the right notes of emotions and humour. He is a father, yes, but a human first who loves music and hence pursues it relentlessly, amidst the clitter-clatter of his family and his daughter’s choices. In one scene, a young kid calls him ‘aiyan baiyan’, meaning just a regular, common man and the way he reacts to it made me laugh out loud.
Then, something unwanted, unplanned happens in the film that truly is the turning point of the entire film in a sense. A routine check-up leads to a diagnosis that suggests that the unborn child might have birth defect. The American couple, who had spent their last one year looking for the ‘perfect’ surrogate and a ‘perfect’ child are devastated. So much so, that they are incapable of looking beyond themselves and flee to America without even saying a word to Mimi. Her whole world, her dreams included comes crashing down on her with a bang that’s only audible to her. There is so much that’s unsaid in the film, for the viewer to see. Mimi’s pipe dream has burst and here’s a child inside her which isn’t even hers and a looming future she didn’t sign up for.
And, here’s when the film gets real and how.
Mimi’s mother is a little more complicated, given how she’s married into a conservative, Rajasthani family of Rathores who has now embraced the pride and forgotten her motherly instincts. Mimi shakes up this dilapidated and old-fashioned courtyard home from its slumber when she returns home full-bellied, sans a husband. Her mother, who was reluctant to send her away for the film shooting (Mimi lies to them, of course) is beside herself, threatening to burn down the entire house lest someone comes to know of their daughter’s condition. Here is a mother who is so afraid of what people will think of them, that she’s shaking her pregnant daughter furiously in anger and fear. It felt wrong. Thankfully, there’s an old, otherworldly masi who comes to Mimi’s rescue by showing her parents that Mimi is carrying a child. She needs to be looked after. Not cursed to death for bringing shame to their family.
There’s so much pain inside her, from her broken dreams, unkept promises, choices she made for a future that’s wiped off, and you feel every bit of it. Kriti Sanon does justice to Mimi who is forced to grow up, go beyond herself, her dreams, her own imagined-future, all for the baby who’s taking shape and form inside her. It’s the toughest role I have seen playing out on screen in recent times, where the actor is fighting an inner battle and has to make a choice that feels whole. Kriti Sanon, you’ve outdone yourself. And to think Bareilly Ki Barfi was your best! Cannot wait to see what you do next.
The moment she gives birth, she becomes a woman of her own. Choosing to keep the baby, she knows finally she is where was supposed to be and there’s an acceptance of life in true sense. If she had still been the same Mimi of the past, living in her fantasy, she wouldn’t have been able to give anything to this child who is hers in every sense, despite the fact that she only lent her womb. The film asks such important questions, it’s difficult to not pause and reflect. What does being a parent mean? Is blood everything? Or do we miss something fundamental in what parenting is? Is life an unrealised dream? Or is it something we can’t grasp with our mind?
Regardless, this story has depth for anyone who knows how to swim with these difficult yet fundamental questions of life and how we live.
I heard in an interview that Sanon had to shove food down her throat to gain weight, given her super-awesome metabolism. Let’s just think for a second, how hard it must have been, to just keep eating, even to the point of throwing up, knowing you don’t gain weight easily, to not exercise at all for 3 months, all to reach a weight with which she ultimately carries this brave, human film on her shoulders, with a brilliant supporting cast alongside.
It’s unfortunate to see that very few from the industry has spoken about this beautiful film as honestly as it deserves. Some channels are even sabotaging it by mouthing the nonsense they believe can deceive the audience into not watching it. But it’s so heartening to see the real people loving this film so much and talking good things about it.
One interviewer remarked ‘you’re a female Ayushmann Khurrana because you’re trying to break the mould.’ Are you for real? Why do you have to bring a woman who has done well down to a male-level-of-acceptance? Why can’t she just be Kriti Sanon? Is it so hard to see someone for just who they are without our biased lens?
Watch Mimi without any lens, just with your goddamn eyes, for once?
P.S.: A. R. Rahman could have given a better music to this film. It only reflects a little bad on his discography, no one else, as the film is brilliant even with its lukewarm music.
