Mom (film)


Mom is a 2017 Indian crime thriller film directed by Ravi Udyawar, based on a screenplay written by Girish Kohli. Produced by Sunil Manchanda, Mukesh Talreja, Naresh Agarwal and Gautam Jain, the film stars Sridevi as a vigilante who sets out to avenge her stepdaughter, played by Pakistani actress Sajal Ali. The film also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Akshaye Khanna and Pakistani actor Adnan Siddiqui in supporting roles. Music for the film has been composed and produced by A. R. Rahman. This movie marked Sridevi's 300th, and final major film appearance before her death on 24 February 2018.
The film was released on 7 July 2017, in four languages, and became a critical and commercial success. Sridevi was highly lauded for her performance in the film with Times of India saying that the actress "demonstrates why she is the high-priestess of Indian cinema." The film received two awards at the 65th National Film Awards : Best Actress for Sridevi, marking the first posthumous win in the category and Best Background Score for A.R. Rahman. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards, the film received six nominations, including Best Actress and Best Actress for Sridevi and Best Supporting Actor for Siddiqui. At the box office, the film has grossed worldwide, including in China.

Plot

Biology teacher Devki is vivacious and popular among her students. In a class, a student, Mohit sends Devki's stepdaughter, Arya an offensive video and Devki throws his phone out of the window. At home, despite Devki's persistent and warm approach toward her, Arya remains frosty and distant, rebuffing her attempts to build a relationship. Arya is invited to a Valentine's Day party at a farmhouse; Devki permits this with great hesitation. Arya rejects Mohit and his hotshot buddy Charles at the party. Angered by this very public rejection, Charles, Mohit, Jagan and the watchman Babu attack Arya when she leaves the party. They brutally rape her and dump her in a drain along the side of a road, leaving her for dead after half-strangling her. She is found barely alive and brought to the hospital, where she undergoes various operations to save her. Devki and her husband Anand are shattered. Arya recovers and releases a statement naming her attackers.
Inspector Matthew quickly rounds up the attackers. However, the case falls apart when Arya was found to be drinking, thus building the argument that her memory is unreliable. The body samples were recovered very late and were too weak to match the attackers. The judge acquits the four attackers due to lack of evidence. Her lawyer suggests appealing to a higher court but Devki has lost faith. Arya, still in shock and broken by the court verdict, tears away from Devki. In sorrow, Devki realizes she has probably lost Arya forever.
Devki recalls the somewhat shady detective, DK, whom she'd met on the night Arya was raped. A father of a daughter himself, he understands her pain and agrees to help her as Devki wants to avenge Arya.
The watchman is first. Devki seeks the help of her former students - transgender people who understand her plight. They seduce the watchman and drug him. He awakes four days later, still drunk, and finds, to his horror, that he has been castrated and remembers nothing. The hotshot Charles is next. Devki breaks into his home and mixes crushed apple seeds - a source of cyanide - into his fitness powder. Charles is paralyzed. When Mohit visits Charles at the hospital, Devki, tipped off by DK, plants apple seeds and other evidence at Mohit's home. Inspector Matthew quickly arrests Mohit; Charles will die soon and Mohit will be the murderer. As Devki takes down each of Arya's attackers, their situations make it on the news, which Arya follows with surprise. She believes it may be her father, and she is deeply grateful to him. Matthew also suspects the father but, although he has him tailed, cannot catch him out. Then he finds Devki's glasses in Mohit's apartment and starts suspecting her.
Matthew confronts Devki but there is no evidence. He warns her that the fourth man, Jagan, is a hard criminal: going after him is dangerous for her family. Jagan visits Charles and learns that it is "the mom" who is retaliating. He goes after DK and discovers that Devki is on a holiday at a snow cottage in Kufri. He kills DK and goes after Devki. Matthew discovers a hidden camera in DK's sunglasses and hurries to save Devki.
Jagan cuts power at the cottage and shoots Anand. There is a scuffle and Arya runs out into the snow. Jagan pursues her and Devki tries to save her. As Jagan is about to kill Devki, Matthew intercepts and tackles Jagan. There is a standoff: Devki points a gun at Jagan and Matthew attempts to talk her down by telling her that Anand is alive and in the hospital and if she shoots him, she'll go to jail. Arya, in the bushes, overhears Jagan when he angrily relates how Devki finished off the other attackers. Devki knows if Jagan is left alive he will come after her again. At this point, Matthew hands her his gun and urges her to kill him. Devki hesitates but when an overwhelmed Arya acknowledges Devki as ‘Mom’ for the first time, Devki shoots Jagan dead.
Arya hugs her.

Cast

Casting and development

It was announced in early 2016 that Sridevi would be starring next in Boney Kapoor's woman-centric home-production titled Mom to be directed by Ravi Udyawar. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was cast to play an important role in the film and the actor revealed that it was a dream come true for him to work with Sridevi. Subsequently, Akshaye Khanna and actors Sajal Ali and Adnan Siddiqui were cast in crucial roles. A. R. Rahman was signed to compose the music of Mom.

Filming

The first spell of film was shot in New Delhi in March 2016 around locations of Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University and Noida Film City. Following this, Mom was shot in an extensive schedule in Mestia, Georgia. The crew shot in freezing conditions of minus seven degrees for over two months. Despite the challenging climactic environment, the schedule was successfully wrapped up. Shooting resumed once more in March 2017 and the last leg of the film was completed in Bangkok.

Release and marketing

The First Look of Mom was unveiled at the Zee Cine Awards 2017 by Salman Khan who hailed Sridevi on stage as "a bigger star than the Khans". The actress made the First Look public on Twitter which went viral. Subsequently, the Teaser of Mom acquired 1.2 million views in its first 24 hours on YouTube. It also met with a positive response in Pakistan. The well-receival of the teaser led to distributors in South India asking for dubbed version of the film pre-emptively. The filmmakers announced that Mom would also be dubbed and released in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
Mom was awarded U/A certification by the Central Board of Film Certification without any cuts.
The film is slated to release in China on 22 March 2019, two years after its release in India. Zee Studios International, the distributors of the film, have released an international poster for Chinese audience.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed 14.25 crore on its first domestic weekend. It had a domestic gross of approximately 51.78 crore. Overseas, it grossed 3.87 crore from North America, 164 million from the United Kingdom, 4.2 million from Australia, 1.4 million from New Zealand, 34.5 million from the UAE, 100,000 from Malaysia, and 36 million from the rest of the world, bringing the film's worldwide gross to in 2017.
The film released in China on 10 May 2019. The film had an opening weekend gross of in China, where it was at number four on the weekend charts, just below the Hollywood films Pokémon Detective Pikachu and and the Arabic film Capernaum. As of 4 June 2019, the film has grossed in China, bringing the film's worldwide gross to.

Critical response

Mom received positive reviews from critics with major acclaim drawn to Sridevi's performance. Meena Iyer of The Times of India rated 4 stars out of 5 and said, "this one still manages to stay ahead with some interesting twists and turns". Sarita A Tanwar of Daily News and Analysis rated 3 stars, saying "Mom is interestingly cast and that's a major part of the battle won." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated 2 out of 5 stars and said, "The plot is riddled with holes, and is too focussed on Sridevi." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV India rated 3.5 stars out of 5 and said that it doesn't strictly belong to "conventional rape-and-revenge drama" category as it does not have "clearly defined moral and emotional context". Mayank Shekhar of Mid Day rated 3 out of 5 stars, saying that "the filmmakers effectively employ their talent" on the fresh ensemble cast, the characters," or "fine passages of photography and production design". IANS of The Economic Times said, "the scenes are cut in a way that they heighten the drama without resorting to hysteria". Kunal Guha of Mumbai Mirror rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, cSeveral scenes in Mom wordlessly convey more than what can be said through dialogue." Rajeev Masand of News18 India rated 2.5 out of 5 stars, saying "Mom is a far from perfect film, but it's never boring." Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times, while rating 3 stars out of 5, pointed out as good thing of the film that it "can hold the audience's attention".
Sridevi's performance was highly acclaimed with India Today calling her "unbelievably good as the mother thirsty for revenge" while NDTV found her "magnificently expressive as the titular figure." Times of India described her act as a "captivating performance where she walks you through the entire gamut of emotions with panache" while Indian Express declared that "Sridevi needs only a twitch or a glance to prove that she is a powerhouse and there are several scenes she lifts by just being there." Deccan Chronicle wrote that "Turning your eyes elsewhere will be criminal when Sridevi is on screen in the film" while Rediff hailed the actress as "the master of expressivity...it's classic Sridevi." Rajeev Masand declared that "Sridevi's performance elevates Mom to another level" while TV Today declared that "Sridevi's breakdown scene in the film must be studied in film schools." Firstpost commented "Here is a 53-year-old leading actress doing what Amitabh Bachchan once excelled at...Sridevi is a far more a riveting watch than a shirtless Salman Khan with his 6 plus packs or the quintessential middle aged Hindi film hero, who refuses to grow up....Suddenly, Bollywood shines bright with hope for the heroine over 50."
Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News commented while rating 3.5 out of 5 stars, "taut thriller studded with some superlative performances". Sadaf Siddique of DAWN said, "it is the riveting performances that hold the narrative together despite its flaws." Rohit Bhatnagar of Deccan Chronicle rated 3 out of 5 stars and said, "Although the production of the film makes it look grand and fancy, the climax is too dramatic for such an intense film."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was released on 27 June 2017 by T-Series. The first song of Mom titled "O Sona Tere Liye" earned positive reviews with Indian Express describing it as "a soothing balm for a hurt soul" while a writer from The Times of India wrote that the "song will stir your soul." Rahman won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction - Background Score.
;Hindi tracklist
;Tamil Dubbed Version
No.TitleLyricsSingerLength
1.PoongaatreThamaraiAnand Aravindakshan, Priyanka NK05:20
2.Kooke KawnVivekSunder Iyer, Pooja, Sharanya Srinivas, Blaaze03:33
3.Raatchasa TheeVivek, RianjaliIsshrath Quadhree, Rianjali05:43
4.Netrai Vendru NaanKutti RevathiSaindhavi Prakash/ Shreya Ghoshal06:28

;Telugu Dubbed Version
No.TitleLyricsSingerLength
1.PoongaatreAnanda SriramHemachandra, Priyanka NK05:20
2.Padhavalu PakkanoluAnanta SriramSunil Kashyap, Pooja, Sharanya Srinivas, Blaaze03:33
3.Aarthi Agni JalistundhiAnanta Sriram, RianjaliDamini Bhatla, Rianjali05:43
4.Erooje Chindhe ChirunaveRockyShashaa Tirupati/ Shreya Ghoshal06:28

;Malayalam Dubbed Version
No.TitleLyricsSingerLength
1.O SonaRafeeq AhmedJithin, Priyanka NK05:20
2.Kaandil EllamRafeeq AhmedPalakkad Sriram, Pooja, Sharanya Srinivas, Blaaze03:33
3.Agni JwalaRafeeq Ahmed, RianjaliKavya Ajit, Rianjali05:43
4.Onni PooRafeeq AhmedShweta Mohan06:28

Notes: