Mom (film)

''Mom'' is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed by Ravi Udyawar from a screenplay written by Girish Kohli. The film stars Sridevi as a vigilante who sets out to avenge her stepdaughter after she is sexually assaulted at a party. The film also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Akshaye Khanna, and Pakistani actors Sajal Aly and Adnan Siddiqui in supporting roles. Music for the film was composed and produced by A. R. Rahman.

''Mom'' was released on 7 July 2017 in four languages, and emerged as a blockbuster at the global box office, grossing worldwide. The film earned highly positive reviews from critics, with Sridevi receiving widespread critical acclaim for her "powerhouse" performance. The film marked Sridevi's 300th and final major film appearance before her death on 24 February 2018.

''Mom'' received 2 awards at the 65th National Film Awards: Best Actress (Sridevi), marking the first posthumous win in the category, and Best Background Score (Rahman). At the 63rd Filmfare Awards, ''Mom'' received 6 nominations, including Best Actress and Best Actress (Critics) (both for Sridevi) and Best Supporting Actor (Siddiqui).

Plot

Mrs. Devki Sabarwal is a vivacious biology teacher who is popular among her students. In class, a student, Mohit Chadda, 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. When Arya is invited to Valentine's Day party at a farmhouse called Zodiac Farms, Devki and her husband, Anand, permit her to go with great hesitation. Arya rejects Mohit and his cousin Charles Deewan at the party. Angered by this very public rejection, Charles, Mohit, their criminal friend Joginder "Jagan" Singh, and the security guard of the farmhouse Baburam Yadav attack Arya when she leaves the party. They brutally rape her and dump her body in a drain along the side of a road, leaving her for dead after half-strangling her. Arya is found barely alive and brought to the hospital. Devki and Anand are shattered. Arya soon recovers and releases a statement naming her attackers.

Inspector Mathew Francis quickly rounds up the perpetrators. However, the case falls apart when Arya was found to be drinking, building the argument that her memory is unreliable. Furthermore, the semen samples were recovered very late and were too weak to match the attackers. The judge acquits the four attackers due to a lack of evidence. Arya, still in shock and broken by the court verdict, tears away from Devki. Devki realizes she has probably lost Arya forever.

Devki recalls the somewhat shady detective, Dayashankar Kapoor ("DK"), whom she'd met the night Arya was raped. A father of a daughter himself, DK understands her pain and agrees to help her seek justice and revenge for Arya.

Devki seeks the help of former students to attack the security guard Baburam. They seduce and drug him. He awakens four days later, still drunk and remembering nothing, to find that he has been castrated. In a state of shock, he dies in an accident. Next, Devki breaks into Charles' 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, but leaves behind her glasses. Inspector Mathew quickly arrests Mohit; Charles will die soon and Mohit will be charged with murder.

As Devki takes down each of Arya's attackers, their situations make it on the news, which Arya follows with surprise. She believes the vigilante maybe her father and is deeply grateful to him. Mathew also suspects Anand, since he had attacked Mohit in court, but when he has him tailed, he discovers nothing. Mathew finds Devki's glasses in Mohit's apartment and begins to suspect her.

Mathew warns Devki that the fourth man, Jagan, is a hardened criminal: going after him will be dangerous for her family. Jagan visits Mohit, who is being physically abused by another inmate. Jagan then visits Charles; in his final moments, Charles reveals that it is Devki who is retaliating. Jagan 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 glasses 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, Mathew intercepts and tackles Jagan. There is a standoff: Devki and Matthew point their guns at Jagan and Matthew attempts to talk her down by telling her that Anand is alive and that if she shoots Jagan, she'll go to jail. Jagan angrily recounts how Devki finished off the other attackers and Arya overhears from the bushes. Devki knows if Jagan is left alive, he will come after her again. At this point, Mathew 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 and Devki share a tearful and tender embrace.

Cast

* Sridevi as Devki Sabarwal
*Adnan Siddiqui as Anand Sabarwal
*Akshaye Khanna as Inspector Mathew Francis
*Sajal Aly as Aarya Sabarwal
*Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Detective Dayashankar Kapoor ("DK")
*Abhimanyu Singh as Joginder "Jagan" Singh
*Riva Arora as Priya "Piyu" Sabarwal, Devki & Anand's daughter and Aarya's half-sister
* Adarsh Gourav as Mohit Chadha
*Vikas Verma as Charles Deewan
*Pitobash Tripathy as Guard Baburam Pandey
* Vara Raturi as Sapna, Aarya's best friend.
*Ivan Sylvester Rodrigues as Aarya's school principal
* Tripti Dimri as Swati, Aarya's and Mohit's classmate

Production

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 Aly and Adnan Siddiqui were cast in crucial roles. A. R. Rahman was signed to compose the music of ''Mom''.

Filming

Filming began in New Delhi in March 2016 around Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University and Noida Film City. Following this, ''Mom'' was shot on an extensive schedule in Mestia, Georgia. The crew shot in freezing conditions of -7 degrees for over two months. Despite the challenging climate, shooting was successfully concluded in Georgia. 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 as "a bigger star than the Khans." Sridevi shared the first look on Twitter, where it 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 positive reception of the teaser led to distributors in South India asking for a dubbed version of the film preemptively. The filmmakers announced that ''Mom'' would also be dubbed and released in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

The film released in China on 22 March 2019, two years after its release in India. Zee Studios International, the distributors of the film, released an international poster for Chinese audiences.

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 '' Avengers: Endgame'' and the Arabic film ''Capernaum''. As of 4 June 2019, the film has grossed () in China.

Critical response

''Mom'' received highly positive reviews from critics, with Sridevi's performance receiving widespread critical acclaim. Meena Iyer of ''The Times of India'' rated it 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 it 3 stars, saying, "''Mom'' is interestingly cast and that's a major part of the battle won." Shubhra Gupta of ''The Indian Express'' rated it 2 out of 5 stars and said, "The plot is riddled with holes, and is too focused on Sridevi." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV India rated it 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 it 3 out of 5 stars, saying that "the filmmakers effectively employ their talent" on the fresh ensemble cast, the characters, and "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 it 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, "Several scenes in ''Mom'' wordlessly convey more than what can be said through dialogue." Rajeev Masand of News18 India rated it 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 the movie 3 stars out of 5, pointed out that the film "can hold the audience's attention".

Sridevi's performance received further critical praise 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," and ''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."

Awards and nominations

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

;Telugu Dubbed Version

;Malayalam Dubbed Version

Notes:
* The songs "Freakin' Life" and "Be Nazaara" were reused in the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam versions without any changes.
* The song "Maafi Mushqil" appears only in the Hindi version. It was not dubbed into Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
* The song "Be Nazaara" is a traditional composition, both lyrically and musically. It was only programmed and arranged by A. R. Rahman for the movie.

See also

*2012 Delhi gang rape
* ''I Spit on Your Grave''
* '' Death Wish''

References

External links

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2017 films
2017 thriller drama films
Films set in Georgia (country)
Indian feminist films
Films about rape in India
Films about social issues in India
Films about women in India
Films set in Delhi
Indian legal films
2010s Hindi-language films
Films shot in Georgia (country)
Indian thriller drama films
Films scored by A. R. Rahman
Transgender-related films
Films featuring a Best Actress National Award-winning performance
Hindi-language drama films