‘Maa Behen’ movie review: Madhuri Dixit steers a frantic, polished ride that is entirely aware of its own punchline

Madhuri Dixit in ‘Maa Behen’.

| Photo Credit: NETFLIX

By taking India’s most exhausted street insult and turning it into a literal roll call — Maa (Madhuri Dixit) and Behen (Triptii Dimri and Dharna Durga) — the prolific Suresh Triveni essentially asks this week: What if the women routinely weaponised in local cuss words actually team up to hide a dead body or the rot of patriarchal entitlement. It shares DNA with Darlings and Haseen Dillruba, pulp-crime comedies headlined by mainstream actors in which ordinary women subvert expectations by outsmarting society, only to reveal that the crime we panicked over is more visceral than it seems.Set in a middle-class housing society, cleverly called Adarsh Colony, Maa Behen gradually becomes a physical representation of societal surveillance. The neighbour network, led by Charitra Kumar Gupta (Ravi Kishan), is designed to show how a judgmental community assassinates the character of a single woman, a single mother.Maa Behen (Hindi)Director: Suresh TriveniCast: Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri, Dharna Durga, Ravi Kishan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Shardul Bhardwaj, Arunoday SinghRuntime: 127 minutesStoryline: A fiercely non-conforming widow discovers her nosy neighbour dead inside her kitchen, dragging her estranged daughters into a not-so-accidental crimeTriveni teams up with writer Pooja Tolani to systematically strip away the idea of a sacred mother, transforming her into a flawed mastermind in a crime. Rejecting decades of representation that demanded maternal self-sacrifice, the duo replaces it with the raw instinct of self-preservation.Playing on the characters of a popular detergent jingle, Pooja stitches a sharp social commentary on the death of traditional shame. The very same middle-class women who were once celebrated for cleaning up domestic mess here use their cleaning skills to outsmart the nosy neighbour.In this battle, Rekha’s (Madhuri) sleeveless blouse becomes a sign of non-compliance. Jaya (Triptii) stands for sensible, well-mannered protectors of domestic conformity before the fuse bursts, and Sushma (Dharna) is a symbol of the detached, screen addicted, internet generation looking for likes.