''Mala Aai Vhhaychay!'' ( ''I Want to Be a Mother!'') is a 2011 Indian

Marathi-language Marathi (; , 𑘦𑘨𑘰𑘙𑘲, , ) is a Classical languages of India, classical Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is also spoken in Goa, and parts of Guj ...

film produced and directed by Samruoddhi Porey. The story deals with rising surrogacy instances in India, where women are used as surrogates by foreigners. The film is an emotional drama telling the story of one such surrogate who bears a foreigner's child. The film is critically acclaimed and won

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi The National Film Award for Best Marathi Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Ka ...

in 2011. It was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

as '' Welcome Obama'' in 2013, in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

as '' Lucky Star'', and in Hindi as '' Mimi'' in 2021.

Plot

Mary comes to India for a surrogate mother to bear a child. She finds a poor woman Yashoda who accepts the offer. Yashoda gets pregnant successfully. During her pregnancy, doctors inform Mary and Yashoda that due to some complications, the child would probably be born with disabilities. Mary decides to abandon the contract and leaves India though the pregnant Yashoda begs her not to leave. A few years later, Mary decides to return and look for her child. The film shows the story from a legal and emotional perspective of whom the child should be with; his surrogate mother who raised him or his biological mother who has a blood relation with him.

Cast

* Urmila Kanetkar as Yashoda *Stacy Bee as Mary *Samruoddhi Porey as Nanda *Aiden Barkley as Madhav *Vivek Raut as Ganpath * Sulbha Deshpande as Sindhu tai *Akshay Deshpande *Shreya Porey *Suchitra Bandekar *Matt Ridde * Rupali Modak *Atul Bhardwaj *Sandip Rajput *Ronit Malode *Srushti Porey *Shubhankar Raut *Nakshatra Rajgire *Sumit Ghom

Production

The writer-director-producer of the film, Samruoddhi Porey is a practicing lawyer in

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

. The story of the film is based on one of the surrogacy cases she came across. The film completed its shooting in the rural areas near

Melghat Melghat was among the first nine tiger reserves of India to be notified in 1973 under Project Tiger. It is located in the northern part of Amravati District of Maharashtra. Melghat Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as in 1985. The total area o ...

- Chikhaldara of

Amravati district Amravati district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �mɾaːʋət̪iː is a Districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in central India. It is the administrative headquarter of Amravati division, which is one of the two ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. Aiden Barkley, who plays the role of a 4-year-old surrogate child hails from Washington, D.C.. He was selected for the role because of his blonde looks and was then tutored in Marathi, especially the Warhadi dialect. Aiden's father Matt also appears in the film. Matt and his spouse confirmed that Aiden himself was a surrogate child born in India and they were back in India to have their second surrogate child when Porey noticed Aiden and approached them for the role.

Awards and recognition

The film won the

. The film was also selected to be shown to President Obama by President

Pratibha Patil Pratibha Devisingh Patil (born 19 December 1934), also known as Pratibha Patil Shekhawat, is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2007 to 2012. She was the first woman to become the president of India. A m ...

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by Ashok Patki on lyrics written by Samruoddhi Porey.

Kunal Ganjawala Kunal Ganjawala (born 14 April 1972) is an Indian playback singer whose songs are mostly featured in Hindi, Bengali, and Kannada films. He has also sung in Marathi, and other official languages of India. Kunal began his career by singing ji ...

and

Vaishali Samant Vaishali Samant is an Indian music composer, lyricist and playback singer who is popularly known for her work in the Marathi film and music industry. Her career on television has included being a judge on the reality singing competition shows. ...

have sung the songs.

References

External links

* * {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Marathi 2011 films Indian drama films Marathi films remade in other languages Best Marathi Feature Film National Film Award winners Indian pregnancy films Films about surrogacy 2010s Marathi-language films